I'm Home
by lolitarun
Summary: Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So this is an idea that randomly popped into my head during the 8+ hour drive to my mother's house. Please note that this idea is kind of ignoring the last few minutes of the season 1 finale, so this is a bit AU in that Briggs never called Mike asking him to come back to Graceland.

**LINE**

Mike stared down at his backpack as the phone rang, not sure if he actually wanted Johnny to answer or not. In some ways, it would be easier if he didn't have to deal with anyone until he actually got to Graceland. But at the same time, he was worried that showing up unannounced would lead to having a gun pulled on him – at the very least.

"_Yo, Mikey! How you been, man? We haven't heard from you in months…_" Mike smiled at Johnny's enthusiasm at hearing from him. It had been a long time since Mike had heard anyone actually seem that excited over simply hearing his voice.

"Hey Johnny… what are the chances you would be available to pick me up at the airport?"

"_When?_"

"How soon can you get here?" Mike asked.

"_Wait… you're here? Like, right now?_" Mike couldn't help smiling at Johnny's surprise.

"Yeah… my flight just landed a couple of minutes ago. I just have to go get my suitcase."

"_I'm on my way. How long you staying?_"

"A few days… I had some vacation time and thought I'd pay you guys a visit." Mike picked up his backpack and started walking towards the baggage claim area, thankful that he would have a ride back to the house. The closer he'd gotten to California, the less his original idea had sounded like a good plan.

"_You tell anyone else out here you were coming?_"

"No… I wanted it to be a surprise. But about halfway out here I realized that showing up at the house unannounced probably wasn't the best idea…" Mike began, smiling slightly.

"_Yeah… considering how many times you've already had a gun pulled on you around here…_"

"I definitely don't want a repeat of that." Mike sat down on a bench a few feet away from the luggage carousel, waiting for the crowd to disperse some before he attempted to grab his old, blue suitcase. "I'm in baggage claim C. Again."

"_Alright, man… I'll see you soon._"

Mike tucked his phone back into his pocket as Johnny hung up, sighing and watching the carousel's slow spin. He really wasn't sure what had possessed him to return to California; it had been almost a year since the last time he'd actually spoken to anyone he'd worked with, and he wasn't even sure if anyone at Graceland even _wanted_ to see him again.

It didn't take the area long to clear, giving Mike a clear shot at picking up his own suitcase before he moved towards the exit to wait for Johnny to show up. The waiting seemed to go on forever before Mike finally caught sight of the old pickup truck his roommates seemed to always favor. Mike lifted his suitcase into the back of the truck, before climbing into the cab of the truck and with his backpack at his feet.

"Dude… what's with the hair? You never struck me as the high and tight type…" Mike reached up, running his hand across the short hairs on the top of his head. He'd almost forgotten how much his appearance had changed since the last time he'd been in California.

"I've been busy… this is just easier to deal with than the long hair I had when I was undercover," Mike lied. He wasn't really ready to tell anyone what was going on.

"No offense, dude, but it really ain't your look, you know? Not everybody can pull it off." Mike smiled, shaking his head at Johnny's comments.

"Yeah, yeah… it's not like I've really had time to worry about that since I left for DC…" Mike leaned his head against the back window, closing his eyes. "How's everyone been?"

"Briggs and Jakes are pretty much the same as always. Paige got herself a boyfriend that _isn't_ part of an undercover job. Charlie's still trying to figure out what happened to Odin. And tonight's sauce night, meaning you actually get a chance to taste some of it this time."

"Sounds good."

"Dude… you not sleep last night or something?"

"I just flew cross-country, Johnny. I'm pretty sure I have good reason to be exhausted right now," Mike replied with a smirk. "Anybody move into my old room yet?"

"Nah… I think the DEA is looking at sending someone to train with Paige, but nothing's actually happened yet. I didn't check in with Briggs, but I don't think anyone would mind if you stayed in there while you're here, unless you've already got other plans…"

"That actually sounds pretty great…"

Mike didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until they were back at the house, when Johnny started calling his name. "Dude… maybe you should go upstairs and get some sleep, if you're that exhausted." Mike sighed, nodding.

"Yeah. You're probably right. Anyone else home?"

"Just Charlie, because she's making the sauce. Paige usually makes her walk of shame between ten and noon, so she should be getting back any time now…"

Mike smiled. "I think she refers to it as the got laid parade…" Mike grabbed his bags, following Johnny into the house.

"Yeah, well, whatever she calls it, she keeps coming home in the same clothes she had on the night before…"

"Johnny, who the hell are you talking to?" Mike smiled as Charlie walked out of the kitchen, stopping dead in her tracks as soon as she saw him. "Holy shit… Mikey?"

Mike smiled as the woman crossed the room, wrapping him in a hug as soon as he'd put down his bags. "Hey, Charlie."

"What are you doing here? What happened to the job in DC?"

"I'm just here for a visit… I'm taking a little vacation time," Mike replied, stepping back from the woman as she finally let go of him.

"And you decided to come back to this Island of Misfit Agents for that vacation? Seriously?" Mike looked up at the sound of a timer going off in the kitchen. "Shit, my sauce…" Mike couldn't help laughing as the woman rushed off to the kitchen. "Go put your stuff up, and then get your ass back down here and tell me all about DC."

By the time Mike got up to his old room, he really just wanted to lay down and take a nap. He walked into the bathroom as soon as he'd put down his bags, washing his hands and splashing some cold water on his face. He looked up at the mirror, sighing at his reflection. He was kind of surprised that Johnny and Charlie hadn't said anything about how shitty he looked – pale and tired, thin. Mike knew that the two of them would have noticed it almost immediately, even if they didn't say anything. Mike sat down on the side of his old bed, closing his eyes for a moment. He just wanted to take a nap, but he knew that would look suspicious.

"I thought they were joking when they told me you were here." Mike turned towards the doorway, sighing when he saw Paige standing there looking less than thrilled to see him. She was the same as he remembered her – tan skin, blonde hair, and absolutely gorgeous despite the fact that her makeup was a little mussed. "God… you look like shit."

"Thanks, Paige."

"What's wrong with you?" Mike closed his eyes, sighing.

"I'm just tired… it's been a bad few months."

"Bad enough that you couldn't even be bothered to give any of us a call before you came?"

"It was kind of a last-minute thing. I just needed to get out of DC for a little while."

"And you came here?" Paige scoffed. "Seriously, what the hell are you doing here? Why even bother, when you haven't been in contact with any of us for months?" Mike could hear the anger in her voice.

"I have my reasons, Paige. Okay?" Mike scratched at a patch of skin on the inside of his wrist, sighing. "Look… can we talk later? I could really use some sleep…"

"And I could use an explanation." Mike nodded, opening his eyes and looking up at the woman again.

"Paige… I promise you, I'll explain. But I'm literally about two minutes away from passing out from exhaustion, and I _need_ to go to sleep. Just give me an hour or two, okay? Once I've had a nap, we can talk."

"This isn't over, Mike…"

"I know. And I don't _want_ to just ignore all of this, okay? But I don't have the energy to explain everything right now."


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ YOU GUYS! I was NOT expecting such a response to that first chapter (4 reviews in under 24 hours for a BRAND NEW story?! What?!). It must be because they're filming Season 2 as we speak and we're all getting hungry for more Graceland. Luckily for all of you, I've actually been writing on this story pretty much since Season 1 ended.

A quick warning before we begin: I'm kind of awful to characters, and some of you are going to be very upset with me as this story progresses. I apologize. I don't know exactly where I'm going at this point (final ending is kind of up in the air between a few different options), but you might want to have the tissues handy as you're reading, just in case…

Anyways, I love you all for reading (and especially love those who have already reviewed begging for more!). Thank you!

* * *

Mike rolled over onto his back, glancing at his phone and sighing as he realized he'd slept a lot longer than he'd intended to. "Yo, Mikey… Charlie said to get your ass down to the kitchen if you want a shot at any of her pasta sauce!" Mike couldn't help groaning slightly at the sound of Johnny's voice coming through his bedroom door. He was surprised that the man hadn't come into the room and started bouncing on the bed again, but definitely grateful that Johnny seemed to be giving him some space.

Mike got out of bed slowly, making his way into the bathroom to clean himself up a bit before going downstairs. The last thing he wanted to do was let everyone in the house see just how shitty he looked when he wasn't trying to make himself look presentable. It took Mike a few minutes to make himself look decent, but he finally made his way down the stairs.

"I was starting to think you weren't going to bother coming down for dinner…" Charlie commented as Mike finally made it down to the kitchen, joining the end of the line waiting for her famous pasta.

"I'm not going to miss my only shot at trying your sauce, Charlie," Mike replied with a smile.

"You could always come back, you know… I'm sure Clarke would be glad to have you back on this Coast." Mike smiled slightly at Charlie's comment before Jakes shook his head and pointed his fork at the woman accusingly.

"Hey, now… the boy got his dream job when they sent him to DC. Don't start trying to guilt him into coming back to this insane asylum."

"Speaking of dream jobs, how is DC anyway?" Briggs asked. "I figured once they got you out there, you wouldn't leave for anything."

Mike shrugged, sighing. "It's good… I just needed to take some time off. Get out of there, clear my head…"

"Since when do you need to get away from a good job?" Briggs asked

"It's not the job I needed to get away from." Mike glanced up at Briggs, noting the way the man was looking him up and down. "I've just got a lot of personal stuff going on, and I needed a break from everything going on in my life so I can deal with it."

"Where's your gun?" Charlie asked. Mike turned to the woman quickly, realizing what she was implying. Given how he looked and the way he'd just described the situation, it would have been pretty easy for her to assume that he was depressed and at risk for doing something stupid.

"I'm not depressed, Charlie. But if it makes you feel any better, my gun is in a safe in DC."

"You been sick or something?" Mike closed his eyes at Briggs' question. He'd known it was coming, but it didn't make it any easier to make himself deal with the question.

"Yeah," Mike admitted, refusing to look at Briggs as he answered the man's question. He sighed. "I came here because my boss suggested I should take some time off. I just need to get my mind off of everything for a while, you know?"

"Shit, Mikey… what's wrong?" Mike looked up at Johnny, sighing. Everyone in the kitchen was looking at him expectantly, but he really wasn't ready to tell everyone what was going on.

"Something's wrong with Mike?" Mike closed his eyes as Paige walked up behind him, effectively cutting off his only possible escape route. "What's going on… did I miss something?"

"Mike was just about to tell us," Briggs replied. Mike looked around at his old roommates, sighing again as he realized that everyone was watching him expectantly. "Seriously, Mikey… what's wrong? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd just been stabbed again."

"Guys… let's just enjoy dinner, okay? You don't need to worry about my problems."

"But you would tell us if something were majorly wrong, right?" Johnny asked.

"We can talk about it later, okay? The sauce is ready, we should eat…"

"That isn't an answer, Mike…"

"Really, guys… we should eat. The sauce is going to get cold…"

Mike could feel everyone watching him while they ate, making it difficult for him to actually focus on eating his meal. It had been a struggle to eat ever since he'd gotten sick, and it was all he could do to choke down more than a few bites even though it was probably the best spaghetti and sauce he'd ever had.

"You aren't eating…" Mike put his fork down as Paige spoke, shrugging.

"I'm not that hungry."

"You haven't eaten anything since you got here…" Charlie added. Mike closed his eyes as the woman put a hand on his forehead. "Seriously, Mike, what's going on here? You're running a fever…"

"It's not a big deal, Charlie…"

"Kid, you're running a fever and you look like hell." Mike had really hoped they would be able to keep it between the two of them, but Charlie was getting loud and everyone at the table seemed interested in their conversation. Especially Briggs and Paige. "What's going on?"

"Hodgkin's lymphoma." Mike closed his eyes, sighing at the silence in the room.

"Hodgkin's… but that's…"

"Cancer. Yeah."

"Shit…" Mike sat back in his seat, trying to ignore the explosion of voices that followed Johnny's exclamation. Everyone seemed to have something to say or some kind of question to ask, and Mike couldn't keep track of everything being said.

"Could you… could you all just _shut up!_" Mike sighed, opening his eyes as the rest of the group stopped talking, staring at him.

"What the hell are you doing here, Mike? You should be at home, taking care of yourself…" Mike turned to look at his former training agent, sighing and shaking his head. "Mike, don't tell me you've done something stupid…"

"I'm waiting on test results. I've already done six months of chemo and radiation… they aren't sure if it's safe to keep going with the same chemo regimen, or if it's even working well enough to justify the risks…"

"What kind of risks are we talking about?"

"Some of the medicines can cause heart and lung damage… the more they give me, the higher the risk. And even after six rounds of chemo, there's still…" Mike stopped for a moment, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening to fall as he tried to explain what was going on. "There's still a… a mass. In my chest. And it's still Stage III, even after months of treatment…"

"Have they given you any idea of what the chances are?" Charlie asked. Mike shook his head, closing his eyes as she squeezed his hand.

"It's not looking good right now, but they haven't really given me any kind of numbers…" Mike took a deep breath, shaking his head and sighing. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you guys…"

"Don't even worry about it, Mikey…" Mike smiled as Charlie squeezed his hand again, before putting an arm around his shoulders and squeezing him slightly.

"You know we're here for you, man… you're our friend."

"Thanks, Johnny." Mike pushed away the plate of food, sighing.

"You should really eat that… you need your strength," Paige commented, pushing the plate back towards Mike. He watched her for a moment, trying to figure out what she was thinking. They had been close when he'd lived in Graceland, but she'd been cold and detached every time he'd run into her since he'd come back.

"I'm not… I don't think I can. Not without making myself sick…" Mike closed his eyes, sighing. "I'm sorry… I'm being such a downer tonight… I should just go back to DC."

"No, you shouldn't. You should be with people who care about you, especially right now," Charlie replied. Mike shook his head. "Hey, look at me, Mikey." Mike looked up, turning to face the woman. "We care about you."

"Charlie's right, man… we're all here for you," Johnny added from across the table. Mike watched as Briggs and Jakes both nodded, looking obviously concerned about his admission.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Help me forget for a while… please. I just want to hang out and forget that I'm sick and that it's only going to get worse before it gets better…" Mike replied.

"We should go to The Drop, shoot some pool… just like old times." Mike nodded at Johnny's suggestion.

"Yeah… that's exactly the kind of thing I need right now."

"I'm supposed to be meeting Eric tonight…" Paige began.

"So either invite the guy along or blow him off… Mikey's only here for a little while, and you've spent every damn night with that man for the past few weeks," Jakes replied.

"It's not that big of a deal…"

"No, Mikey, it kind of is a big deal. This may be the last chance we get to see you…" Mike closed his eyes at Johnny's reasoning. "Shit… you know what I mean…"

"You all seem to forget that he disappeared on us… no offense, Mike, but I sort of gave up on our friendship when you stopped talking to all of us for months…"

"Paige!"

"No… she's right. I should have done a better job of keeping in touch with everyone…" Mike began.

"You were a little preoccupied," Charlie replied, rubbing his back. "Besides, we could have contacted you, too. We all kind of failed at being friends once you left Graceland…" Mike shrugged, closing his eyes.

"I was a rat… I'm surprised any of you wanted anything to do with me after all of that."

"Mike, that wasn't your fault. We all know that you didn't have much choice in that situation."

"Briggs is right, Mike." Mike sighed, nodding slowly.

"I'm going to go lay down for a while, if you guys don't mind…" Mike began, pushing the plate away and starting to stand up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, Charlie… I'm just tired. I think I just need to go lay down a little while longer, especially if we're going to go out later."


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So… a bit more for you all, although this one is a little on the short side. I'm trying not to upload too much at once, because I _am_ still writing this one. But I have enough written to upload a chapter every day or so, at least for a little while…

* * *

The Drop was loud and bright and full of people – pretty much exactly like Mike had remembered it, honestly. But it was different, being there and being unable to drink or even really keep up with everything that was going on. He'd retreated to the group's usual table after the first round of pool, followed closely by Charlie. "How are you doing? Tired?"

"I'm always tired, Charlie…" Mike closed his eyes as he started coughing from the cigarette smoke. "I forgot about the smoke… maybe this was a bad idea…"

"Do you want me to take you home? I don't mind skipping out early, if you aren't feeling up to staying…" Mike shook his head, smiling and standing up.

"I think I just need to go get some fresh air. I'll be back in a minute."

The sea air was crisp and cool, but Mike still felt like he couldn't really breathe properly. He coughed a few more times, leaning against the side of the building and closing his eyes.

"I don't understand why we're even here… I thought you hated this guy…"

"I don't hate Mike… I'm just pissed off at him." Mike opened his eyes as he heard Paige talking to someone he didn't recognize – clearly the Eric she'd mentioned earlier.

"What is he anyway, an ex-boyfriend or something?"

"We had a one night stand right before he left to move back East. Two months later, he stopped calling or responding to texts…"

Mike could hear the man Paige was talking to laughing at her explanation. "God… you must have _really_ felt sorry for that guy. I can't imagine you fucking a guy like that…"

"What's wrong with Mike?" Paige sounded defensive at her new boyfriend's insults.

"No offense, but he looks like shit…"

"He's been sick, Eric. He didn't look like that back then…" Mike closed his eyes at Paige's comment. "Mike has cancer, and he might be dying. He came back to… visit or something. I don't really understand what the hell he's thinking right now."

"This isn't just some guy you slept with once… you have feelings for him." Mike couldn't help starting to cough almost as soon as the words were out of the man's mouth, and he tried to move so that it looked like he'd just walked into the scene and hadn't been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Mike… are you okay?" Mike shook his head as Paige rushed over, putting an arm around his shoulders.

"'m fine… just the smoke…" Mike coughed a few more times, pulling away from the woman.

"I should take you back to the house…" Paige began.

"No…" Mike shook his head, the coughing finally subsiding. "No, I'm okay… "

"You don't sound, okay…"

"What did I tell you?" Mike glanced at the man, who had is arms crossed and looked more than a little pissed off.

"Eric, fuck off… he's sick." Mike couldn't help being sort of glad that Paige was so concerned about him, even if it was making the situation a bit awkward.

"It's fine, Paige…" Mike stepped back, shaking his head. "I'm going to head back inside with everyone else."

"If the smoke is bothering you, you really shouldn't go back in there. Let one of us take you home…" Paige began.

"I'll go get Charlie. You should stay here, with your boyfriend." Mike started back into the bar, until Paige's companion spoke up.

"Don't even bother… I'm going home. I'm not going to deal with this shit," Eric replied.

"Eric…"

"No, don't bother… you may not realize it, but you have feelings for him that you're never going to have for me. I'm not wasting any more of my time, and you'll thank me for not wasting yours, too." Mike couldn't help turning around to look at Paige as the other man stormed off.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it, Mike. I didn't like him that much anyway." Mike sighed as Paige shook her head, before walking over to him and crossing her arms. "Seriously… are you okay? That cough…"

"It was just the smoke. Really." Mike coughed a few more times, leaning back against the building again.

"You never had a problem with it before," Paige replied.

"Yeah, well I also didn't have cancer before. It kind of changes things, you know?" Mike glanced back towards the interior of the bar, watching their friends for a moment. "I missed this stuff… hanging out with you guys. Hell, sometimes I even miss the job…"

"You could always come back when you're better…" Mike shook his head, looking down at the ground.

"I chose DC. Besides, I'll probably be better off with a desk job. These medicines… they fuck with your heart and lungs. It could be a serious liability in the field, if something were to happen…" Mike was surprised when Paige wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him in a tight hug.

"You shouldn't have to deal with this… you shouldn't have to give up everything you've worked so hard for…" Mike closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around the woman's waist to return her hug.

"I don't have a lot of choice in the matter."

"I know." Mike was surprised to see the tears in Paige's eyes when she pulled back from the hug. "You really shouldn't go back in there, if the smoke is messing with you. Let me go get your jacket and tell Charlie we're going back to the house."

Mike smiled, shaking his head. "I'm not getting a say in this, am I?"

"Nope." Mike sighed, sitting down at one of the small outside tables to wait for the woman to come back. He wasn't going to argue; it wasn't worth the effort, when he knew that Paige was even more stubborn than he was.

"Dude, what are you doing out here? We're about to start a new game of pool, if you're in…" Mike's eyes blinked open as he heard Johnny's voice. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep sitting up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, man… I think I'm just going to head back to the house with Paige. I'm tired, and the smoke in there is getting to me…" Mike watched as Johnny looked him over appraisingly, before nodding.

"Alright, man… you just take care of yourself, okay? You don't need to get sick…"

Mike couldn't help laughing, shaking his head. "Dude, I'm already sick."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah. I know." Mike sighed. "I wish I wasn't so fucking tired all the time… it would be nice to actually be able to enjoy spending time with you guys without constantly feeling like I'm going to fall asleep on you."

"We'd all understand," Johnny replied.

"I know you would. But I don't like doing it… I'm not going to remember half of this trip because I'm sleeping through so much of it."

"You ready?" Paige asked, walking back out of the bar with Mike's jacket in hand. He stood up, slipping the jacket back on.

"Yeah… let's go."

"Take it easy, man… get some rest."


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So, don't hate me for this one… and I'm sorry for the delay; the site was screwing up this morning and wouldn't let me upload until now...

* * *

Mike opened his eyes as he heard a somewhat familiar voice calling Johnny and Paige from the top of the stairs. He really wasn't in the mood to explain himself to Gerry, so he decided to stay where he was until someone either came looking for him or the man was gone.

"Why is the door to Mike's old room closed?" Mike closed his eyes as he heard the door handle turning.

"Mike came to visit…" Paige replied.

"There are no civilians upstairs, Paige…"

"It's Mike, Gerry… FBI agent, used to live here…" Mike did his best not to react to Paige's comment as he heard the door swing open.

"Not anymore… he quit the Bureau two weeks ago."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Paige asked. Mike could tell she was upset by her tone of voice, even though he couldn't see her.

"Mike Warren resigned from his job in DC, sold his stuff, and moved out of his apartment… his boss out there called me yesterday to see if I'd heard anything, because Mike wasn't responding to his phone calls any more…"

"I don't understand…"

"Paige, Mike is dying… he was diagnosed with cancer seven months ago."

"I know… Hodgkin's. He told us last night at dinner."

"Did he tell you he's also developed leukemia, probably as a result of the chemo from the lymphoma? That the treatments haven't really worked, and no one can figure out why?" Mike bit down on his bottom lip as Gerry spoke, not sure how Paige would react.

"No… you have to be wrong, Gerry. I know he hasn't responded well to the treatment, but he's just waiting for test results while they figure out what to do next…"

"Paige, I wish I was wrong…" Mike heard the man sigh. "Look, I won't say anything about Mike being in the house because he used to be an agent. But he can't stay long-term, okay?"

"You just said he's dying," Paige commented.

"I don't know how long he has left. But he really shouldn't be staying here, even if he used to be an agent." Mike heard the door close as they walked away, sighing and rolling over as soon as he was sure they were gone. He really hadn't wanted to tell anyone at Graceland he was dying… he'd hoped to just spend a few days with his friends to say goodbye, and then disappear so that they wouldn't have to know the details of his death.

Mike hadn't really planned to fall back to sleep, but he woke up almost instantly when he felt his bed move, jumping into a seated position before he realized it was Paige sitting on the empty side of his bed. Mike closed his eyes, sighing.

"You lied to us."

Mike rubbed at his eyes silently for a moment. "I didn't want to hurt you guys… I figured I could say goodbye and disappear again, and that would be the end of it."

"You are _not_ going to disappear on us again. That's an order."

"I'm not asking you to take care of me, Paige."

"I know." Mike felt the woman put a hand on his back. "Did you get a second opinion? About the prognosis, I mean…"

"Everyone wanted me to keep going with the chemo, but they said it would probably just buy me time…"

"Did they give you any numbers? Chances of survival, time left? Anything?" Mike nodded slowly.

"Less than 10%. With chemo, six months to a year, max. And that's only if I don't catch something and have to delay rounds of chemo. I've got maybe a month without it…" Mike glanced over at the woman, whose skin had gone pale. "Paige…"

"Damn it, Mike…"

Mike wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders as she started to cry, holding her close. "Please don't cry…"

"The worst part is, Eric was right… God, I still have feelings for you." Mike closed his eyes.

"I wouldn't have come back if I'd known."

"I think I would have ended up hating you if you hadn't. I only started dating Eric because I was pissed off at you for disappearing…"

Mike pressed a soft kiss against the woman's forehead, sighing. "I can't start a relationship, Paige…"

"I'm not asking you for that. I'm not asking you to do anything for my sake." Mike squeezed the woman a little tighter before pulling away. "What's next?"

"I need to find somewhere to stay other than here…"

"Mike…" Paige began.

"I heard Gerry, Paige. He's right, I can't stay here indefinitely."

"You aren't going to go off somewhere and die alone. I'm not letting you isolate yourself when you need people the most…"

Mike shook his head. "I'm not going to do that, okay? Besides, I don't have a car or anything. It would be kind of hard for me to just disappear. Especially now that you know everything…" Mike sighed, laying back down in the bed and closing his eyes again.

"You're so tired…" Mike smiled as the woman put a hand on his shoulder, even though his eyes were closed.

"It's only going to get worse…" Mike put a hand over Paige's squeezing it gently. "I know you don't want to hear that… but you need to know what you're getting yourself into if you stick around."

"Of course I'm going to stick around." Mike rolled over onto his side, looking up at the woman as she turned to face him. "You really think I would leave you like this?"

"It would be easier for you." Mike closed his eyes again. "None of you have to deal with this, and I wouldn't blame any of you for not wanting to deal with this kind of stress… it's a lot to deal with…"

"Mike… we aren't going to leave you alone to deal with this," Paige replied, putting a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't help scoffing slightly at the idea. "Seriously… we're your friends."

"That hasn't stopped anyone else… and you all have the most reason to hate me…"

"We _don't_ hate you, Mike." There was a moment of silence. "Wait… what do you mean that hasn't stopped anyone else?" Mike shrugged, not bothering to open his eyes or really respond. "Seriously, Mike… who could be that heartless?"

"I don't want to talk about it, okay Paige? I'm tired…"

"You should eat something. It's getting late, and you haven't had anything since dinner…"

"I'm really not hungry."

"You said the same thing last night at dinner," Paige commented. "You _need_ to eat something."

"I'll be dead in a month either way. It's not like it really matters whether or not I've eaten…"

"Shit, Mike…" Mike looked up at the woman, sighing. "Do we have to… do we really have to do this? Talk like this about the fact that you're dying?"

"I don't see the point in sugar-coating things. I'm dying… that's all there is to it. And I've gotten everything done that needs to be finished. I've come to terms with my death, I've settled my affairs, and right now I'm _done_." Mike watched as Paige looked down at his bed, more than a little upset by Mike's comments. "I know this isn't easy, okay? Trust me, it's taken me a long time to get to this point…"

"I don't _have_ a long time, Mike. I get a few weeks, max… and then I just get to deal with the aftermath of losing you."

"You don't have to do this… I'm not making you stay."

"You forced my hand the moment you came back. Hell, this was destined to end badly from the moment I decided to fuck you…" Mike closed his eyes, sighing. "I'm not blaming you, okay? I would have wanted to know… I want to be with you, if that's what you want. You shouldn't have to go through all of this alone."

"Maybe I _should_ be alone. Maybe I shouldn't have come back here, tried to reconnect…"

"Don't even say that." The hand on Mike's shoulder made him look up at the woman. "Don't even think for a moment that I would ever want you to die alone, Mike… no matter how much this is going to hurt, it would be a million times worse if I never got the chance to say goodbye and had to live with the fact that you were alone through all of this…"

"Paige…"

"I'm serious, Mike. You aren't going to be alone. I'm not going to let that happen." Mike sighed, closing his eyes again. "Seriously, let's go downstairs and get you something to eat for breakfast, and then we'll figure out what to do about your living arrangements for the next few weeks."

"I have some money… enough for a few months. Which is probably more than I really need, honestly."

"What about insurance?" Paige asked.

"It's taken care of."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I have insurance in case I need it." Mike squeezed the woman's hand. "I need to give you copies of all the paperwork…"

"After breakfast, okay? We can take care of all the details after you've eaten."


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ I apologize for the delay on this one; I'm less than three weeks from getting my Master's (non-thesis, thank God!), so I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. I actually just finished a 77-page portfolio for this semester's seminar class that has literally taken me ALL SEMESTER to complete, and I still have to complete my Professional Portfolio before I'm done. But at least I now have a little bit of time to update this and write a little more as well!

* * *

Mike put the envelope on the bed, opening it and slowly pulling out the contents. "You don't have to take this on, Paige…"

"Someone needs to," Paige replied, sitting down across from Mike with his legs curled up underneath him. "What is all of this? What do I need to know?"

Mike flipped through a few papers, pulling out the one he felt was most important. "This is… they call it a living will, but it's basically a DNR order. If… _when_ I get to the point that I'm not able to make my own medical decisions, this overrides everything else. No resuscitation, no ventilators." Mike handed the paper over to Paige, giving her to moment to look over it.

"What about IVs?"

"Only fluids and painkillers. Only medications to keep me comfortable, nothing that would artificially prolong my life. No chemo." Mike looked down at the other paperwork sitting in front of him, shifting through it to make sure he had everything. "If I go into the hospital or need hospice care, they need a copy of that on file. There are two more official copies in the envelope, and the address to request additional copies if necessary. But it shouldn't be…"

Mike took the paper back, putting all three copies back into the envelope before pulling out another document that was fastened with a piece of light blue paper. "You have a will…"

"I don't have much to give away, but it's better to have everything taken care of," Mike replied. "There's another copy of this in a safe deposit box in Bethesda. Which I have the paperwork for in here as well, along with all of the information someone would need to get access to my bank accounts after I'm gone… I'll get a lawyer to draw up the paperwork for power of attorney, so that you can get access to everything."

"Isn't all of this normally done by a person's family?" Paige asked. Mike closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just… I feel weird taking care of this stuff when I'm just a friend…"

"My grandparents and mom are all dead. I don't have any siblings. And I haven't really ever had a relationship with my dad. I tried to talk with him after I was diagnosed, and it didn't go well…"

"I'm sorry…"

Mike shook his head. "Don't be, okay? Just… if you don't want to do this, you don't have to. I can find someone else…"

"I want to." Mike looked down at his hand as Paige covered it with her own, "So, we were at the will and talking about bank stuff…"

"Right. Everything you need should be here… there's paperwork about my insurance – there are a couple of life insurance policies that should cover everything, unless I'm in the hospital for a long time. But it shouldn't take that long…" Mike looked up as he heard the distinct sound of Paige sniffling. He was surprised to see tears in the woman's eyes. "Paige…"

"Fuck." Mike watched as she sat back, taking a deep breath and wiping at her eyes. "I swore I wasn't going to cry in front of you. Not again."

"Paige." Mike was surprised when she stood up, shaking her head.

"I just… I need a minute, okay? I'm going to go calm myself down, and then I'll come back and we'll finish talking about all of this." Paige started towards the door.

"You don't have to go, Paige. It doesn't bother me… that you're crying, I mean. I get it." Mike watched as the woman stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. "I don't want anyone tiptoeing around me like I'm fragile… it's okay if you're upset. At least then I know that someone out there cares." Mike closed his eyes, starting to fight back his own tears.

Mike opened his eyes as he felt Paige wrap her arms around him, squeezing him in a tight hug. He couldn't stop the tears from sliding down his face as they sat there. "I don't want to die… I don't want to do this to you…" Mike was thankful that the woman let him just cry; he hadn't really been given a chance to break down since he'd gotten sick. There had been too much to do, too many things to worry about. And the emotion was hitting him all at once, entirely too much to keep in.

"Let it out… let it out, it's okay…"

"I'm sorry…"

"You need this… don't apologize, Mike." Mike finally opened his eyes, pulling back to look at the woman. "Are you okay?" Mike nodded slowly as the woman stroked the side of his face, squeezing his shoulder gently. He couldn't help looking into her eyes, wanting nothing more than to lean in and kiss her. But he couldn't bring himself to do anything, knowing that it would only make things worse.

"I haven't… there were too many things to do. Too many things to take care of. And it's really just now that it's starting to hit me, that this is the end…" Mike began. He closed his eyes again, squeezing the woman's hand. "I think everyone thinks I've accepted this shit and that I'm okay, but I'm not. And I don't think I have enough time left to be okay with all of this…"

"Mike…"

"I just… I know I can't stop it, but I wish I could at least put it off a little longer. Just long enough to not be so upset about all of this…"

"But if you take chemo…" Paige began.

Mike shook his head. "That isn't the kind of life I want, Paige… it might buy me time, but it would be miserable. I was so sick… I can't do that again. I can't fight like that, not knowing how long I'm going to be able to keep going."

"So it's better to give up completely and let this take its course…?" Mike squeezed the woman's hand as she spoke. "I know… I can't possibly understand what you're going through. But you have to admit, when you ask for more time and refuse to do the only thing that might give you that…"

"I know." Mike took a deep breath, sighing. "It's just… you weren't there. You didn't see what it was like. And until you've experienced that, you can't really understand why I'm saying I won't do it again." Mike looked up at the woman, squeezing her hand again. "I got violently sick every time they gave me the medications. I'd get seriously dehydrated, to the point that I nearly had to check myself into the hospital. I had to miss so much work, I'm surprised they didn't fire me… even when I was there, I couldn't do my job properly because I was so sick. I think my boss felt sorry for me, for being so pitiful…"

"You don't have to explain, Mike… it's your decision to make."

"But you need to understand _why_ I'm making this decision. I need to know that you understand," Mike replied. "I don't want you to think I'm just giving up here, Paige. This isn't a decision I've made without thinking about it… hell, I still have the fucking port in my chest, in case I change my mind…" Mike pulled her hand to the bump just below his collarbone, letting her feel the device just underneath his skin. "If things were different… if they knew why I wasn't responding well to the treatments, or why my body doesn't seem to be fighting the cancer at all. If there was something they could _do_ about this that might actually save me, then maybe things would be different. But there's nothing else they can do… not that would actually work."

"Mike… please just stop…" Mike looked at the woman, sighing as he realized just how much his words were hurting her. She didn't need to hear all of the gory details. Her tears were entirely too real, making Mike feel even worse about his emotional outburst.

"I'm sorry… God, I didn't want to do this to you…" Mike sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not okay with dying… this isn't what I _want_ to do. But chemo… it's expensive and dangerous and it makes me really sick. Even if it does somehow magically start working, the chance of me surviving without serious heart or lung problems is almost zero. Honestly, if I wasn't already dying…" Mike stopped himself, closing his eyes.

"What?"

"I'm… I've already been having trouble breathing, on and off. Like last night…"

"Shit…"

"It could be worse…" Mike began.

"Don't even try to convince me that this could be worse, Mike… you're dying…"

"Not today." Mike smiled slightly, reaching out and taking the woman's hand. "At least we get some time. We get a chance to say goodbye this way."

"I don't _want_ to say goodbye to you, Mike." Mike nodded slowly. "Just… let me take you to a doctor out here, get a second opinion on all of this. Maybe get something to help you manage the breathing problems before they get worse…"

"I don't see the point…" Mike began.

"Just do it for me, Mike. Please." Mike looked up at the woman, seeing the tears in her eyes as she squeezed his hands. Mike sighed, nodding slowly. "I just don't want to see you go this way, without knowing for sure that there's nothing that can be done."


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So I know this one is super short – I just wanted to make sure I got something up before I left for school this morning. There will probably be another chapter this afternoon, when I get home from my LAST Wednesday of grad school!

* * *

Being poked and prodded and tested was exhausting, and it was all Mike could do to keep from falling asleep as he sat on the couch in the new doctor's office. It didn't help that Paige had an arm around him, letting him rest his head on her shoulder.

"Mr. Warren?" Mike looked up slowly as the doctor came into the office, sighing as the man moved over to the desk with a thick folder Mike assumed was his file. "I've been looking over your charts… I see it's been a little over a month since your last chemo treatment, right?"

"Yeah… I'd finished the six rounds originally prescribed. It didn't really do anything…"

"Right. I've seen the pathology reports from your doctor in DC. I'm not going to lie to the both of you here… I can't give you anything definite without new pathology reports, but from what I'm looking at here I think the chance of survival could be higher than you were originally lead to believe."

"How high are we talking here?" Mike asked.

"Twenty-five, thirty percent… again, I can't put definite numbers without more current information. But I think that if we can find a donor for a bone marrow transplant, it's worth a shot…" Mike glanced over at Paige, who seemed to be watching for his response to the news. "It isn't going to be easy. But if you're willing to let us try…"

"It could be the difference between life and death." Mike watched as the doctor nodded. "But if the chemo didn't work the first time…"

"We're talking about higher doses and more rounds using a different chemotherapy regimen. I can't explain to you why it didn't work or why your body hasn't been fighting the cancer, Mr. Warren. All I can offer you is the possibility of a treatment that _might_ work." Mike closed his eyes for a moment, trying to process everything. "I can give you a few minutes to process all of this and think about what you want to do going forward, but if you're going to fight this I need to get the donor registries searching for a match and get you started through the treatment process…"

"And if I don't want to fight? How long?"

"If you choose not to fight this, you're looking at a matter of weeks… two months, max. Honestly, as weak as you are right now I can't imagine you making it much longer without needing either hospital or hospice care." Mike nodded as Paige squeezed his hand.

"Could… could I have a couple of minutes, please?" Mike asked, taking a deep breath.

"Of course." Mike waited until he heard the man leaving the room before he opened his eyes again.

"You don't have to make a decision immediately…" Paige began.

"I know, Paige… I really just need a few minutes to think about what I'm going to do here." Mike sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I was preparing myself to die…"

"And now?" Paige asked.

"Now I don't know… I don't want to say I'm just giving up when there's a chance. But I don't think I'm prepared for this…" Mike closed his eyes as Paige took his hand again, squeezing it gently.

"I get that you're scared… but if there really is a chance that you can survive…"

"One in four… not much of a chance, really." Mike watched the woman for a moment, biting down on his bottom lip. "You're getting attached, Paige. And I should back away before it goes too far…"

"No."

"What?"

"You aren't going to push me out of your life, Mike. Not again." Mike nodded, sighing. "Look, I'm going to be here for you, no matter what you choose. I just need to know what to prepare myself for here…"

"I'm going to be sick. Really, really sick. And it's going to keep going on for a long time…" Mike sighed, leaning towards the woman and pressing a soft kiss against her lips.

"What was that for?"

"I've been wanting to do that ever since I saw you again… and I didn't want to lose out on the chance," Mike replied, taking the woman's hand and squeezing it. "I don't think I can fight this on my own… not without something to fight for."

"I'm not going to ask you to fight for me, Mike." Mike nodded at Paige's response, pulling away from the woman. "I want you to do this for the right reasons, not just because you want to make me happy. I want you to fight because it's what _you_ want…"

"I want you." Mike watched as Paige smiled.

"You have me, Mike."

"And that's something worth fighting for."


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ As promised – another chapter today! As of right now, this puts us at page 28 of 60 that I've already written (I'm writing this as one continuous narrative in a different document, then separating it into cuts to post. However, this is as far as I've really edited – I'm going to try and go over the next few chapters tonight if my writing muse isn't there, but I do have some schoolwork I need to get accomplished so it may not end up being done by tomorrow.

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Paige?" Mike watched from his place on the woman's bed as she took off her jewelry, putting it away.

"Am I sure that I want you in my bed tonight? Yeah, I'm pretty much positive…" Mike smiled, closing his eyes for a moment.

"You know what I mean… are you sure you want _this_… us." Mike opened his eyes as he felt the bed move slightly as Paige sat down next to him. "You can walk away whenever you want, Paige… I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to deal with all of this mess…" Mike closed his eyes as Paige leaned over, pressing a kiss against his lips to shut him up.

"I'm not leaving. Now, it's dinnertime and you need to eat something to keep your strength up."

"Can we avoid the rest of the house? Please?" Mike asked.

"You need to tell them what's going on… you can't avoid it forever."

"I've managed to avoid it thus far. Besides, I'm going into the hospital tomorrow morning…" Mike sighed, squeezing the woman's hand. "I know they're going to freak out when they hear what's been going on, and I don't think I can deal with that right now."

"They need to know something… they're going to notice when you suddenly aren't here anymore…" Mike closed his eyes. "Look, I'm not saying that you have to tell them the whole truth about what's going on. If you don't want them to know that you lied earlier, then I'll help you keep that secret. But you can't exactly hide the fact that you're being admitted to the hospital for a bone marrow transplant here in California… they're going to notice."

"I'm just… I want space, Paige. It's one thing to have you around, dealing with all of this shit with me. But I don't think I can handle having four other people trying to take on that role right now, when I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that I have to go through all of the chemo shit again…"

"We have to tell them something."

"So we tell them I'm going back East in the morning and you're taking me to the airport…"

"I don't lie in Graceland, Mike. We _can't_ lie in Graceland… these relationships are the only real ones I'm allowed to have, and I don't want to jeopardize that by lying to everyone. Of all people, you should know what I mean better than anyone else." Mike closed his eyes, dropping the woman's hand. "I'm not mad at you for all of that, okay? I'm just saying, you know how awful it is lying to everyone. I'm not going to do that here… I don't think I _can_ do that, Mike."

Mike nodded, sighing as Paige leaned over to press another kiss against his lips. "I just don't want people in and out of my room all the time when I'm feeling like shit."

"So we'll tell them that… that you need some space, and they should call before they come to the hospital to visit." Mike nodded slowly as Paige leaned in for another kiss. "I'll deal with them, okay?"

"Thank you." Mike reached up, playing with the woman's hair for a moment. "God, you're going to have to see me bald…"

Mike watched as Paige smiled, giggling slightly. "I don't like you for your hair, Mike. I would be long gone if that was what I was sticking around for. Johnny's right – the high and tight isn't a good look for you." Mike sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"This feels weird…"

"What do you mean?" Paige asked. Mike could see that the woman was confused by his comment. He took her hand and squeezed it again, sighing.

"This. Us. I wasn't expecting any of this to happen when I came back here, and it feels weird to suddenly be acting like we're in a relationship when we haven't even really talked about it…" Mike began. He watched as the woman nodded, smiling.

"I get it. But… do we really need to talk about it in that much detail? I mean, we've already fucked…"

Mike closed his eyes. "I just… I don't want this to be something you regret in a few months. I don't think I can handle losing you, if we keep going on this way… I'd rather not have you at all than have you and lose you because of this shit…"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Mike? You aren't going to lose me because of this…" Paige began. Mike closed his eyes as the woman spoke. "I know that's hard for you to understand, but that's the truth. After everything we've been through, I'm not going to give up on you." Mike nodded, sighing as he heard the all-too familiar sound of Johnny's knocking on the bedroom door.

"Hey, lovebirds… it's dinnertime!" Mike watched as Paige closed her eyes, shaking her head and smirking.

"Shut up, Johnny!" The woman got up slowly, taking Mike's hand and helping him sit up. "They aren't going to freak out that much…"

"They're going to freak out." Mike closed his eyes, sighing. "Let's just go downstairs and get this over with, okay?"

Everyone else was already sitting at the table, passing around the dishes full of food and helping their plates. "Yo, you'd better get your asses over here if you want any of this chicken… it's Charlie's secret recipe…" Johnny began.

"It's cream of mushroom soup and bacon… not that special, Johnny…" DJ replied, rolling his eyes. Mike smiled, taking his place at the table and leaning back in his seat. He closed his eyes, just taking in everything that was going on around him for a moment.

"It's better than anything you cook…"

"I _don't_ cook."

"_Exactly_. Now pass the mashed potatoes." Mike watched the rest of the group fill their plates, trying to figure out exactly what he was going to say when he told the rest of the group what was going on.

"So, Mike… have you heard anything from your doctor yet?" Mike looked up from where he had been picking at his food, knowing that everyone's eyes were on him.

"I…" Mike closed his eyes, sighing and putting down his fork. "I wasn't totally honest with all of you… about my health…"

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked. Mike glanced over at Paige, who put a hand on his back and started rubbing it gently.

"I wasn't here waiting on test results… I came out here to say goodbye. I was just going to stay for a couple of days, and then I was going to disappear and let you all forget about me…"

"Jesus…" DJ muttered. Mike closed his eyes.

"Mikey…"

"I quit the FBI, got rid of everything I had left, got out of my lease… they said I had a couple of months…" Mike's voice cracked at the realization that he was so close to dying – so close to losing everything. Mike closed his eyes, leaning his head over towards Paige's shoulder.

"Oh my God… Mike, you can't just leave…"

"He's not leaving," Paige replied. "We saw another doctor out here… this morning. He thinks Mike has a chance with a bone marrow transplant. I'm taking him in the morning to check into the hospital to start the process."

"Why not tell us the truth?" Johnny asked.

"Because I couldn't bring myself to hurt all of you like that. Because I didn't expect to stick around long enough for all of you to find out what was going really going on…"

"You were just going to disappear on us… did you even plan on having someone let us know what had happened to you?" Mike shook his head at Johnny's question.

"I was going to let you forget about me… you all have lives, you were going to keep on going whether you knew or not…"

"We would have wanted to know… we're your friends, Mike…" Mike nodded slowly at Charlie's reaction to his original plan.

"I know… it was just easier to let you think everything was going to be okay. I wasn't even really planning on telling you I was sick. But when you asked the other day, I couldn't bring myself to lie…" Mike closed his eyes again, sighing. "I'm sorry… I'm really tired. I think I'm just going to go up to bed…"

"You need to eat something… you've barely touched your food…" Paige whispered. Mike could tell she was trying not to draw everyone's attention to the fact that he wasn't really eating. But given the fact that they were already focusing on him due to his revelation, it wasn't exactly easy to keep them from noticing the issue.

"Paige is right, Mike. You need to eat, especially if you're going into the hospital in the morning…" Mike glanced up at Charlie, nodding slowly when he realized that the two women in the house weren't going to let him get away with not eating. He really wasn't hungry, but Mike knew that his friends weren't going to let him go without eating. "I can make something else…"

"It's not the food, Charlie," Mike replied, smiling at the woman. "I can't really taste much of anything… I'm just not really ever hungry anymore…" Mike picked his fork back up, picking at the food for another moment before starting to force himself to eat at least a few bites.

The meal was fairly quiet after that, and Mike couldn't help feeling uncomfortable under everyone else's watchful eyes. He hated feeling like he was under a microscope, but he understood that they were just worried about him. Mike waited until the others started to finish up their meals before he finally pushed his plate away, giving up on trying to actually eat the food in front of him.

"Can't stomach anything else?" Paige whispered. Mike shook his head, closing his eyes and letting his head rest against the woman's shoulder as she put an arm around him and started slowly rubbing his back. "I'll make you something else later, if you get hungry…"

"I haven't been hungry for weeks…" Mike admitted. "I think I'm just going to go upstairs and lay down for a while…"

"Are you feeling okay?" Mike sighed as he sat up, turning to look at the woman and shaking his head.

"I'm just exhausted. Today's been a long day, and I just really need to get some sleep," Mike replied. He could tell that Paige was skeptical. "Really… I'm okay. I just really need to get some rest, especially now that I'm starting chemo again." Mike leaned in, pressing a soft kiss against Paige's lips without really even thinking about it.

"Damn, son… since when did the two of you actually get together?" Mike shook his head, sighing at Johnny's comment with a slight smile on his face.

"Since none of your business," Paige replied. Mike couldn't help chuckling at the childishness of his former roommates as he watched the woman stuck her tongue out at Johnny before smiling and turning towards Mike again.

"Johnny, you do realize they fucked in Mike's room the night before he left, right?" Mike looked over at DJ quickly, surprised that anyone knew what had happened. "Don't even try to pretend that isn't what happened, either – them walls are thin, and I had to listen to a hell of a lot more than I ever wanted to from the two of you." Mike could feel his face heating up as he blushed slightly, but he didn't say anything.

"Okay… can we _not_ talk about my sex life at the kitchen table, please?" Mike smiled slightly as Paige put an arm around his waist, scooting a little closer to him. "That isn't what's important right now."

"Paige is right. At the moment, the important thing is that Mike gets healthy. And that means we need to let the man get some rest," Paul replied, adding to the conversation for the first time in several minutes. Mike nodded towards the older man, before he headed up the stairs and down the hall to Paige's room. He sat down on the edge of her bed, trying to decide whether or not he was going to feel like getting up again before bedtime to actually brush his teeth and get ready for bed.

"You aren't asleep yet…" Mike looked up at Paige as he heard her coming through the bedroom door, smiling slightly.

"I was trying to decide if I was going to bed for the night, or just taking a quick nap," Mike admitted, closing his eyes for a moment. "I'm not used to trying to do so much in one day any more… it's kind of exhausting." Mike smiled as the woman sat down next to him, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his cheek.

"Do you think you have enough energy for some alone time with me?" Mike turned his head to look at the woman, smiling slightly.

"I think I can find enough energy for that…" Mike leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against the woman's lips. "I think it's going to be up to you to do most of the work…"

"I can do that," Paige replied. Mike let the woman help him lay back, pushing at the bottom of his tee shirt before Mike put his hands over hers.

"I'm not ready to let you see me without my shirt on, Paige…"

"Mike…"

"I can barely look at my chest myself, Paige… it's nothing but skin and bones and weird lumps and scars. It's one thing to let you feel where the port is under my skin, but I'm not okay with letting you see it. Not yet…" Mike watched as Paige smiled, nodding slightly before she leaned in to press a kiss against his lips.

"I'm sure it isn't that bad… but if you don't want to take your shirt off, I'm okay with that." Mike smiled, closing his eyes and nodding.

"Just… not yet." Mike reached up towards the woman, pulling her down for another soft kiss. "Thank you for understanding."


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ Okay, so this is kind of a longer one… which is good, because I guess that sort of makes up for the fact that I didn't upload anything yesterday… (I fell asleep as soon as I got home from school, slept until 10:30 PM, woke up for like two hours, and then went back to sleep until this morning… I was EXHAUSTED).

* * *

Mike woke up a lot earlier than he'd intended, staring up at the ceiling in Paige's bedroom as the early morning light filtered in through the wall of glass windows and slowly started to fill the room. He'd gotten used to sleeping and waking up at strange times, but normally it was due to the fact that he'd slept for a ridiculous length of time without actually waking up.

Disentangling himself from Paige wasn't an easy task, given the fact that Mike wasn't ready to wake her up just yet. He wanted some time to himself, before he had to be "on" for the rest of the house – before he had to pretend that he wasn't scared as hell and on the verge of breaking down at any moment from all the stress his illness was putting him under.

The beach was surprisingly quiet; Mike had gotten used to the large number of runners in front of the house while he'd lived at Graceland, although he suspected that the ominous looking clouds hanging low over the ocean probably had something to do with it. But Mike sat down under the pier, leaning back against the large wooden pillars and watching the water come in and out several hundred feet in front of him as he hid out from the rest of the house.

Mike couldn't actually see the sun rising, given the fact that he was facing west, but he didn't really mind. He just wanted to be alone, and the sound of the waves was comforting for him. The waves were like an old friend, welcoming him back to the West Coast with their familiar rhythm and repetition.

It took a cold, wet nose and several slobbery dog kisses for Mike to wake up enough to realize that his old running buddy, BD, had found him sitting there. "Hey, BD… long time, no see…" Mike reached up to pat the dog's head, as he sat down and let his head rest on Mike's lap. "I guess you know, huh? That this may be the last time we see each other…"

"You shouldn't say shit like that, even just to the dog." Mike looked up at the sound of DJ's voice from behind him. "You start talking like that, you're going to start believing it, too. And there ain't nothing modern medicine can do for you if you aren't prepared to fight…"

"I know," Mike replied, letting his hand rest in the dog's tangled coat as DJ sat down on the sand a few feet away. "But I can't come back to Graceland… Gerry made that pretty clear the last time he was here. I have to find somewhere else to go when I get out of the hospital…"

"You'll still always know where we are, Levi. And you'll always be one of us, even if you can't actually live in the house with us any more." Mike smiled slightly, somewhat surprised to hear the man say something like that given the fact that Mike had been pretty convinced that DJ would hate him longer than anyone else in the house after everything that had happened. He'd nearly gotten both Briggs and DJ arrested and sent to jail, and Mike really wasn't sure how he'd been forgiven for any of it.

"Don't know that I really expected to hear something like that from you," Mike admitted. "I wasn't sure if you'd ever forgive me, after everything that happened…"

"Don't get me wrong, Levi – I'm still not okay with all of that. But I'm not going to hold a grudge against you when you were just following orders. We've all got to do that shit from time to time." Mike nodded slowly, turning back to face the water. "Give it to me straight, man. How bad is it? No bullshit, and no lying to try and protect people, because you know I'm not the emotional type…"

"Without chemo, they're giving me two months or less… with treatment, unless something goes horribly wrong, I could have up to a year. But without a bone marrow transplant, I don't stand a chance…"

"And with the transplant, what are we talking, long-term?"

Mike shrugged. "I'm pretty sure we're in uncharted territory here… the bone marrow will take care of the leukemia, which is probably a side effect from the first round of treatment for the Hodgkin's. But there's still a Stage 3 mass in my chest, and I don't know if this is going to work for that…"

"So you may go through all of this, and it might not mean anything?"

"It means I get time…"

"With Paige?" Mike looked down at the dog, stroking his fur for a moment as he thought about the other man's question. "Look, man… I know it isn't any of my business, alright? But if she's what you're fighting for, you need to reconsider why you're fighting. You can't do this for someone else… you've gotta do it for yourself."

"You keep talking like you know…" Mike began.

"My brother. Neuroblastoma, a few years ago. Shocked the hell out of the doctors, because it's not normal in adults…"

"Shit…"

"Tell me about it. I know I haven't been in your shoes… but I've watched someone I know go down this route before. And if you don't have something that's really worth it to fight for, you aren't going to have a chance." Mike nodded slowly.

"I think she's worth fighting for…" Mike began. "I've never felt like this about anyone else."

"Is she the only reason you want to fight, though? Really?" Mike couldn't come up with an answer to the man's question, because he honestly hadn't thought much beyond the fact that he was going to fight this. "Just… think about it, okay? I'm not saying you should give up, but you've got to know what you're fighting for."

"I just want to get a chance to do something more with my life… because in the end, what have I really accomplished so far? I haven't really _done_ anything with my life…"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me…" Mike smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Bello? Remember him?"

"I remember getting stabbed in the stomach by a psychotic Mexican assassin…"

"Speaking of Jangles…"

"It's been good luck… that's it. I followed a hunch, and it happened to be right. But that only happened because I knew how Briggs thought and _he_ knew that I knew. If he hadn't…" Mike trailed off, losing his train of thought.

"And if you hadn't been there, he and Charlie would both be dead and Graceland would probably be burned right now. No matter how you want to spin it, the fact of the matter is that without you, we wouldn't be here right now and they wouldn't still be up in that house fighting over who gets the last of the good cereal…" Mike smirked at the thought. "Seriously, they were fighting over which one of them gets the fucking Captain Crunch when I left them, while Johnny's smug ass was sitting there actually eating the last bowl."

"God, did everyone get up early this morning?" Mike asked.

"Everyone but Paige. We thought you were still up there with her, until I saw you sitting your scrawny ass under this pier…"

"I just needed some time to myself," Mike replied, gently pushing BD off his lap and starting to stand up slowly.

"You haven't gotten enough of that, being alone in DC for all those months?"

"It's more complicated than that, DJ…"

"I know. But you've got a house full of people who are here for you, and the last thing you should be doing right now is pushing us away…"

"I'm not trying to push anyone away… but I'm still trying to process all this shit and I can't do that when I'm worried about everyone else…"

"Stop worrying about us… we're all big boys and girls, and we can handle the hard truth. You're human, and you're allowed to be selfish every once in a while. Especially given the shit hand you've been dealt lately." Mike nodded slowly. "You should get your ass back up to the house, before Paige wakes up and flips her shit over the fact that you aren't there."

"What time is it, anyway?" Mike asked, starting back towards the house with the other man.

"Almost eight…" Mike nodded slowly, smiling as he realized that BD was following him back towards the house and sticking close to his side. "That dog is ridiculously attached to you or something…"

"I think he just knows something is wrong…" Mike glanced up at the stairs as they finally arrived back at the house, sighing as he realized that he still had to get back _up_ the ridiculous staircase to get back into the house. "I didn't really think this through very well…"

"Take your time, man."

By the time they got to the top of the stairs, Mike was thankful that DJ had come outside to check on him because he knew there was no way he would have made it up the stairs without the other man's help. Mike let DJ help him into the house and towards the couch in the living room.

"Shit… what happened?!" Mike closed his eyes at the sound of Charlie freaking out at the sight of him.

"Boy's fine, just tired…" DJ replied, letting Mike sit down on the couch. "He went down to the beach and forgot about all the damn stairs he had to climb to get back up here."

Mike sighed as Charlie sat down next to him, starting to fuss over him even as Mike pushed her hands away. "Charlie… I'm fine. I don't need you to fuss over me…" Mike watched as the woman sighed, nodding slightly.

"Have you eaten anything yet?"

"I'm not hungry…" Mike began.

"That's not what I asked."

Mike closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Charlie… I'm just going to throw it all up in a couple of hours anyway…"

"That doesn't change the fact that you need to eat _something_… you've barely eaten anything since you got here, and you're going to lose even more weight than you've already lost…" Charlie began.

"I know… but I don't want to be that sick again…" Mike replied, closing his eyes. "There isn't anything they can give me for the nausea that really works for me. Nothing's going to stay down for me, anyway."

"You have to eat." Mike looked up at the sound of Paige's voice as the woman walked towards the couch from the kitchen, where she'd clearly overheard the conversation. "You're too thin already, Mike… they aren't going to be able to treat you if you aren't healthy enough for chemo, and if you aren't eating…" Mike sighed as the rest of the group started to wander away, leaving Mike and Paige alone in the living room. "Just a little bit, okay? Getting sick isn't going to be any easier on an empty stomach than it will be if you have something to eat now. It'll probably be worse, honestly, because you won't have anything to bring up…"

Mike closed his eyes, reaching up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Paige… please…"

"Dr. Coleman isn't going to want to do anything if you aren't doing okay… and if you're already having trouble eating…" Mike sighed, looking over at the woman and shaking his head.

"You aren't going to let this go, are you?" Mike asked.

"No… not until you start taking care of yourself properly." Mike nodded slowly.

"Okay…" Mike was surprised when Charlie appeared almost immediately, handing him a plate with some fruit and toast already ready to eat.

"I suspected that Paige was going to win this argument… and you two are going to need to leave soon…"

Mike picked at his breakfast as the rest of the house rushed around, getting ready to start their days. The only other person that didn't seem to be in much of a hurry was Paige, who had taken a few days off of work to be with him, but even she was still wandering around the house, getting everything ready for the hospital.

"What do you normally do while you're waiting at the hospital?" Paige asked.

"Sleep," Mike replied. "When all of this started, I was working fifty or sixty hours a week, so I would sleep while they had me hooked up to the IV. Even as I started cutting back my hours working, I was so tired all the time that I ended up just sleeping as much as I could while I was in the hospital…" Mike pushed the food he'd been given around the plate, picking at what was left a little more before he ate a couple more bites. "I'm not really going to be much company once they get started… if you don't want to stay, you don't have to…"

"Mike, I'm going to be there for you while you're doing all of this… I've already taken the time off work, and I _want_ to be there with you. I want to make sure you're okay," Paige replied. Mike nodded slowly, putting the plate down on the coffee table in front of him. "Is that really all you're going to eat?"

Mike sighed, shaking his head. "The thought of more food is just kind of disgusting to me right now… I'm already starting to feel sick…"

"We should probably head out soon… do you need anything else, besides what's in your bag already?"

"I have a water bottle in my suitcase… I need to fill it up, but then I should be ready to go," Mike replied.

"I've got it." Mike sighed, closing his eyes as Paige got up and ran upstairs before he could even really respond to her.

The ride to the hospital was silent, with Mike gently holding onto Paige's free hand whenever he could get hold of it and occasionally squeezing her hand lightly.

"You're nervous?" Paige asked. Mike couldn't help scoffing slightly at the question, shaking his head. "Sorry… dumb question."

"It's more… I don't want to thing about what's coming next. I've been here before, and I've flat-out been told that it's going to be even worse this time than it was the last time…" Mike closed his eyes as they finally pulled into a parking spot just outside the hospital. "I keep going back and forth about whether or not I really want to go through this again, when I know there's no guarantee that this will actually change anything…"

"It's going to help…" Paige began.

"Paige… I don't have a donor, and I still have a huge tumor in my chest. The chances of this actually curing me are slim… the best I can let myself hope for is that this will buy me some more time to spend with you." Mike turned to look at the woman, who seemed less than thrilled about his realistic perspective on the entire situation.

"Mike…"

"I'm not saying I'm giving up or anything. I _want_ more time. But I can't pretend like this is some kind of miracle that's going to change everything and fix me…" Mike closed his eyes as Paige put a hand against the side of his face, pulling him into a soft, warm kiss.

"All I ask is that you don't give up…"


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So this is short, and I've switched to Paige's POV (which is going to continue for a few chapters at least – I'll be switching back and forth between POVs, but I'll try to do at least a few chapters in each perspective before I switch). There will probably be another chapter either later today or some time tomorrow, depending on how long I'm stuck at the dealership getting my car fixed (thank God for free tea and wi-fi!).

* * *

Paige picked at the frayed edge of her shorts, wondering what she was actually doing here. Even though she'd promised Mike that she was going to be around, it was difficult for her to stay in the waiting room as she'd been instructed, knowing that there really wasn't anything she could do for Mike at this point. The last time she'd seen him, a nurse was in the process of accessing the port in his chest to start the process of hooking him up to the IV of chemo drugs.

"Miss Arkin?" Paige stood up at the sound of a nurse calling her name, surprised to see the woman smiling at her. "Mike's asking for you."

"Is everything okay?" Paige asked.

"He's doing pretty well right now… Dr. Coleman had us go ahead and give him something for the nausea, so he'll probably sleep on and off for the rest of the day, but you're more than welcome to stay with him at least until he's done with chemo for the day."

"He said nausea medicine hasn't really helped in the past…" Paige began.

"That may be the case… but even if it just makes him sleep a bit longer, at least he won't really notice the nausea. There's no way to make it go away completely, unfortunately." Paige nodded, following the woman back down the hall and through a set of double doors, before turning down another hall and stopping in front of the door for a single hospital room. "If he needs anything or starts getting sick, go ahead and press the call button and let us know."

Paige nodded, smiling. "Sure. Thank you." Paige entered the room quietly, putting the bag she'd been holding onto down on the floor by the empty chair, moving to take Mike's free hand as the man slept.

"Hey…" Mike muttered, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"Hey yourself," Paige replied, leaning over to press a soft kiss against his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired… kind of sick…" Paige sighed slightly, squeezing his hand and stroking the back of it with her thumb. "You're gonna stay, right?"

"Of course I'm going to stay. I'm not going to leave you to do this alone," Paige replied. Paige smiled as Mike scooted over a few inches, pulling his hand out of the woman's and patting the bed next to him.

"Stay with me… please…" Paige smiled slightly, kicking off her shoes and settling herself onto the bed next to the man and putting an arm around his shoulders, carefully avoiding getting too close to the IV line snaking under his shirt. Paige was glad that he'd been allowed to wear his own clothes, so that he would be at least relatively comfortable even though he was stuck in the hospital bed.

"I'm right here… right next to you." Paige pressed a soft kiss against the man's temple, resting her head against his with a slight sigh. "I'll be here for as long as you want me to be here…"

Paige didn't remember falling asleep, but waking up to the sound of Mike trying to keep himself from being sick was far from pleasant. Paige hurried to grab the plastic bin that had been left for just such an occasion and held it as Mike choked up what little he'd eaten for breakfast, rubbing his back and waiting for him to finish. "What can I do to help?" Paige asked, once his stomach finally seemed to settle enough so that he could sit back in the bed and close his eyes.

"Some water… please…" Paige nodded, getting the water from the bedside table and holding it so that Mike could take a few sips before he closed his eyes again. "This sucks…"

"I know… but it won't last forever, Mike." Paige hit the button to call for the nurse as she spoke, disentangling herself from the bed and doing her best to tidy things up a little bit before she brought the cup back up for Mike to take a few sips of water as they waited for the nurse to show up.

"Thank you."

"Still feeling sick?" Paige watched as Mike nodded slowly.

"It's a little better for the moment, but I know it's going to get bad again…" Paige nodded slowly, taking the man's hand as a different nurse made her way into the room.

"Not feeling well?"

"He got sick a few minutes ago," Paige replied, rubbing the back of Mike's hand with her thumb as the nurse moved around the room, getting rid of the evidence and checking both the IV line still attached to the port in Mike's chest as well as the man's vital signs.

"Everything looks alright… do you need anything, Mike? Maybe some crackers, or juice?" Paige glanced at the man, who shook his head slightly.

"No… no, I think I'm okay…" Paige glanced up at the nurse, who nodded with a slight smile.

"I'll go ahead and bring some crackers or something, just in case you change your mind. And maybe some ginger ale, to see if that will help settle your stomach…" Paige watched as Mike just nodded, closing his eyes, before she turned back to the nurse. "He'll need to eat something as soon as he's feeling up to it. The nausea's always worse on an empty stomach, and he's going to have a rough time of it if the nausea medicine isn't even helping…"

"I'll work on him… he's hardheaded at times, but I think I can reason with him…"

"'m not hardheaded…" Mike muttered. Paige smiled, shaking her head at the nurse.

"Go back to sleep, Mike…"

"'m not…"

"Of course you aren't. Just rest." Paige turned back to the nurse with a slight smile on her face. "Is there anything I can do to help him, other than trying to get him to eat something?"

"You seem to be doing just about everything you can for him… I'm guessing you've already registered with the marrow donor program?" the nurse asked.

Paige was slightly embarrassed to admit that she hadn't. "My job makes it impossible… even just getting a few days off to stay here with him practically took an act of Congress."

"There's always FMLA…"

Paige blushed, shaking her head. "I'm not his wife… we're not even… I don't even really know _what_ we are right now…" Paige looked back at the bed, where Mike had clearly dozed off again.

"Don't worry so much about the semantics… the feelings are clearly there, and the words will take care of themselves in time," the nurse replied, smiling and patting her arm gently. Paige nodded, smiling back at the woman. "Now, I'm going to go get those crackers and some ginger ale for him. Just press that button if you two need anything else."

"Thank you." Paige moved back towards the bed as the nurse left the room, letting her hand rest on the man's forehead for a minute before she crawled back onto the bed next to him, resting her head against his shoulder and cuddling up next to him as much as possible.

"… love you…"

Paige smiled at the words, even though she wasn't sure that he really meant them given his drugged-out state. Still, it was easy for her to return the sentiment as she leaned up to press a soft kiss against Mike's cheek. "I love you, too."


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ I totally failed at updating this the other day as planned, and I apologize to all of you for that. My comprehensive portfolio is due tomorrow (well, now I guess Monday because of the conversation I just had with my professor), and I've done pretty much nothing but work on that all week. But it's finally DONE! And I have an entire free day tomorrow to do nothing but relax, which probably just means I'm going to be writing…

Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

Paige was starting to get used to the monotony of the hospital, but it didn't necessarily make it any easier for her to deal with the fact that Mike was constantly struggling to keep any food in his stomach. "We're not even all the way through the first round of treatment – I know that it's difficult, but we can't pull back this early on in the process if we want to have any chance of actually managing a transplant…" Paige squeezed Mike's hand as Dr. Coleman spoke, knowing he wouldn't be happy knowing that he would have to spend most of the next few months constantly getting ill. "We could try a stronger dosage of the nausea medicine, but that can have negative side effects as well…"

"So we don't really have much of a choice but to keep going…" Paige summarized.

"It's a difficult road, but it's the only option available to us right now. We have to give this a chance to work if there's going to be any chance of a cure…" Paige watched as Mike closed his eyes, nodding slowly.

"Okay."

Paige waited until Dr. Coleman had left the room before she squeezed Mike's hand again, sighing slightly. "You don't have to do this, you know… you don't have to keep going if it's too much…"

"Paige… what are you talking about?" Paige looked down into the man's eyes, smiling sadly at him.

"I can't ask you to go through this, Mike… you've already been through so much, and if you're just doing this for me…"

"I'm doing this because I want the chance to spend more time with you, Paige. I know you helped convince me to do this, but I wouldn't have agreed to any of it if I hadn't _wanted_ to give this a chance. As soon as I saw you again, I knew that I didn't want to lose you for anything…" Paige closed her eyes, leaning down to press a soft kiss against the man's cheek. "I'm still not ready to give up, Paige… I'm not going out without a fight, not this time…"

"Mike…"

"I'm not going to back out now… if I give up at this point, all I've managed to do is lose some of what little time I have left. I'm too weak…"

"Please stop…" Paige began, pulling away from the man and turning her back so that he wouldn't see the tears that were already starting to form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry… but Paige, I'm not going to lie to you." Paige shook her head, wiping away the tears before she could turn to actually face him again. "I'm sorry… I didn't want to make you cry."

"I don't know why I'm crying… in my head, I've been trying to prepare myself for the fact that we may not have a whole lot of time left together. But to hear you actually _saying_ all of this… it still hurts, even though I know it's true." Paige moved to sit down in the chair next to the bed, shaking her head even as Mike silently invited her to sit back on the bed next to him again. "I don't… I just need to take a break, okay? I need to go for a walk, or just do _something_ to get out of this room for a little while…"

Paige watched as Mike nodded slowly, closing his eyes again. "Then go."

"Mike…"

"Just go, Paige… it's not like I'm going anywhere. If you need space, then take it. But don't sit here and pretend that everything is fine, because it's not and I can't deal with this right now." Paige sighed, standing up. "Just… take care of yourself, Paige. You can't constantly be worried about taking care of me when you aren't okay, either." Paige closed her eyes. "I'm just going to sleep, anyway… just go. Do what you need to do, and let me worry about myself."

"Mike… I can't just leave you alone…" Paige began.

"I'm not nauseated, I'm not being given any of the chemo meds right now, and I'm still on the IV. There is nothing I need right now that I can't take care of myself or with the help of a nurse. So stop arguing with me and just _go_."

Paige sighed, grabbing her phone and starting out of the room. She stopped at the door, turning around to face Mike. "I do love you, Mike."

"I know. I love you, too."

Paige left the room, making her way silently down the hall and into the elevator by the waiting room before she allowed herself to start crying. She shakily dialed a familiar telephone number, praying silently that the call wouldn't be sent to voicemail.

"_Hello?_"

"Charlie…" Paige began, her voice breaking before she could get anything else out.

"_Shit… Paige, are you okay? Is Mike okay?_"

"Mike's fine… I'm… I'm not handling this as well as I thought I would, though…" Paige took a deep breath as the elevator finally made it to the first floor of the hospital, allowing her to flee outside the building that she'd been camped out in for the past several days.

"_What do you need?_" Paige sighed, sinking down onto a wooden bench just outside the front doors of the building.

"I don't even know right now, Charlie… I have no idea what I'm doing here, or why I'm putting myself through all of this when I know there probably isn't any hope and… and it's _killing me_ to think that Mike chose to do this because of me…"

"_Paige, slow down… breathe…_" Paige did her best to listen to the other woman's advice. "_Why do you think he chose this for you?_"

Paige took a deep breath, sighing and closing her eyes. "Because it was my idea to have him see a doctor out here… I was the one who didn't want to believe that he was actually dying…"

"_But has he _said_ that he was doing this for you?_"

"He said that he wanted more time with me… that he didn't want to lose me…"

"_Would he have lost you if he hadn't made this decision?_"

"Of course not…" Paige began, reaching up to wipe away the tears again, even though they were still flowing. She wasn't ready to stop her crying just yet.

"_Then why the hell do you think this is about you? Get your head out of your ass, get yourself together, and go take care of the man you love._" Paige smiled slightly at the other woman's advice, taking a deep breath and sighing. "_You've been up there alone all week… if you need someone else to come take over for a while, one of us can come keep Mike company for a few hours. I'm sure you probably have things to take care of…_"

Paige sighed. "You're right. I need to come back to the house and check my messages… do you think Johnny would be able to come down here for a couple of hours and _not_ drive Mike completely insane?"

"_I think that can be arranged, though it may take some threats of grievous bodily injury…_"

Paige couldn't help smiling at the other woman's joke. "I'm sure that can be arranged. Considering the skill sets we have in the house and all…"

"_Yeah… and we could probably manage it without leaving behind any evidence, either…_" Paige laughed, shaking her head.

"Speaking of which, is Johnny there?"

"_I'll send him your way now. You want me to make some zombie virus for you?_"

"No… I just need a couple of hours away from here, to get away from talking about chemo and medications and vomiting…"

"_Seriously, stop right there before _I_ get sick…_"

Paige smiled, shaking her head again. "Sorry… I swear to you, there's something about being stuck here that really fucks with your ability to know what is and is not appropriate conversation with people that aren't dealing with this shit…"

"_Yeah, I think we're going to have to make sure you don't get stuck thinking about that all the time, because I'm not cool with talking about the medical stuff…_"

"Thanks, Charlie."

"_No problem, chica. Now go take care of your man until Johnny gets there to give you a break._"

Paige shoved her phone into the pocket of her jeans, taking a couple of moments to compose herself before she made her way back into the hospital, ducking into a ladies room to make sure she hadn't completely destroyed her eyeliner. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Mike by making it obvious that she had been crying the entire time she'd been outside.

The elevator ride back up to Mike's floor took a few minutes, but Paige was thankful for the extra time to make sure that she wasn't going to break down again just thinking about everything that was going on. Paige knocked before she opened the door, peeking in to make sure that everything was okay.

"Hey…"

"Hey." Paige made her way into the room, shutting the door behind her and moving back over to the chair she'd only recently vacated.

"I'm sorry… we shouldn't be arguing about stupid shit right now…"

"It's not stupid, Paige…" Paige watched as Mike rolled over to face her, resting his head on his arm. "We need to talk about things, if we're ever going to make this work. And I really do want this to work…"

Paige smiled, reaching out and taking one of Mike's hands. "I want this to work, too. But I don't think I can handle being the only one here for you, 24/7, until this is all over…"

"I know."

"Would you absolutely hate me if Johnny came over and hung out with you for a while so that I could go home and get some work taken care of?" Paige asked. She watched as Mike smiled, nodding.

"It's fine… it'd be nice to see someone else from the house for a little while. Besides, you're right… you have work to do, and you can't do that from here. I can't expect you to be here all the time." Paige stood up, moving closer to the bed and gently stroking the small amount of hair he had. "Don't get used to it… it'll be falling out soon."

"I don't love you for your hair, Mike… I'll still love you, no matter how ridiculous you may look when you're bald."

"I didn't say I looked ridiculous bald," Mike replied.

Paige smiled, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss against the man's lips. "I've been trying to imagine you bald. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of ridiculous in my head…"

"It's too bad I got rid of my old phone, or I could have shown you a picture. I shaved it all off when it first started falling out…"

"That's the kind of picture you should have held onto," Paige replied.

"Sit with me?" Paige waited as Mike moved over a few inches, before climbing back up into the hospital bed and settling in next to him. "I'm sorry that I can't take you out on a proper date and do this right…"

"I don't care about dates or any of that bullshit. As long as I have you, I have what I want."

The two of them lay there for a while, talking softly and occasionally giggling over something ridiculous that one of them said before Johnny showed up.

"Dude, I did not want to see the two of you in bed together…" Paige rolled her eyes at Johnny's comment as the younger man came into the room.

"At least we have our clothes on," Paige retorted, pressing a soft kiss against Mike's lips before she got up and turned to face Johnny. "Don't get him into any trouble while I'm gone… I'd like to still have a boyfriend when I get back."

"Me? Get _Mikey_ in trouble? Yeah, right…" Paige shook her head, giving Mike another quick kiss before grabbing her stuff and starting to leave.

"Text me if you need anything. And I'll bring you some clean pajamas when I come back in a few hours."


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So… free time? HAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, no, that didn't happen thanks to my coworkers being crap at actually showing up for work. While that isn't the _entire_ reason for this delay (part of it is just me being shitty at time management), it has played a part in why I didn't get this up sooner. Well, that and watching my managers get drunk at a party and turn into idiots. Good times.

Second part of author's note – I had to revise the timing on this section like six times. At this point, if I've got it wrong, IDGAF. It's one of those things that is unnecessarily complicated in life, and if I still haven't managed to figure it out I'm just gonna roll with it for now.

* * *

Paige stared out at the ocean, still trying to process the news she'd woken up to. It had been more than a month since Mike had gone back into the hospital to start chemo, and nothing really seemed to be going the way Paige had expected. Mike had gotten weaker and weaker, much faster than Paige would have thought possible, until he really wasn't able to stay awake for more than a couple of hours at a time. It was kind of terrifying for her, given the explanation he'd given her of what it would be like to watch him die from the leukemia that had been slowly starving his body of oxygen. And while she knew that the chemo would help him in the long run, at the moment it was really too much for Paige to watch.

"Someone's up awfully early…" Paige sighed glancing over at Paul for a moment before turning back towards the water. "Damn, girl… you look like you could use this more than I could right now." Paige looked at the proffered bottle of beer, seriously considering the offer for a moment before shaking her head and turning back to the water for a third time.

"I'm good, thanks."

"Not like you to turn down the offer of a free beer…"

"I have my reasons," Paige replied, standing up a little straighter and trying to think about anything other than the picture she'd taken a few minutes earlier.

"Mike?"

Paige sighed, nodding slightly and closing her eyes. "He does have something to do with it, yeah."

"How are things with you guys? I know you haven't been around here very much…" Briggs began.

"We're okay," Paige replied. "The chemo is really rough on Mike, because he's sick so much of the time, but when he's not sick he's in a pretty good mood."

"And you?"

"I'm dealing with it. I hate seeing him this sick, but I just keep reminding myself that this is what's best for him and that he's doing this for a good reason…" Paige began.

"Maybe you should take the day off…"

"This _is_ my day off, Paul…"

"I mean from Mike. From dealing with cancer…" Paige sighed, shaking her head and leaning a little more heavily against the balcony railing as her stomach started to churn. She'd already been sick once, and she wasn't looking forward to trying to explain all of that to the man standing in front of her. "I'm being serious, Paige. You're exhausted, and you're pale… we're all worried that you're going to make yourself sick."

"I'm not sick, Briggs."

"You may not be right now, but you will be soon if you don't start taking care of yourself." Paige glanced over at the man as he touched her shoulder, offering the bottle of beer again. "Have a drink, and just relax…"

"I can't have a drink, Paul…"

"It's not like you're pregnant or anything…" Paige looked down at the sand, biting down on her bottom lip. "Shit… you're not…"

"I haven't had my period since before Mike got here. I thought it was just stress the first time, but now I've missed two. I've been feeling off for a while now, and I've been nauseated pretty much constantly for a few weeks…" Paige picked up her phone, pulling up the picture that showed two very distinct pink lines.

"I don't know what I'm looking at."

"That would be a picture of a positive pregnancy test." Paige watched as the man took her phone, studying the picture closely. "Trust me, it was even more obvious in person than it is in the picture. There's definitely no denying it."

"Is it…?"

"It's Mike's."

"How sure are you?" Paige took the phone back, sighing.

"It has to be Mike's. We didn't use anything, but I did with Eric…"

"Condoms fail…"

"Trust me, Eric made sure there wasn't any chance of that happening," Paige replied. "I just sort of assumed that Mike was sterile after all the treatments and everything, so I didn't bother getting a condom or anything…"

"Jesus, Paige…"

"I know." Paige couldn't help the tears that started falling down her face, although she did her best to try and hide them from the senior agent. "I don't know what to do, Paul… I don't know how to handle this…"

Paige was thankful when Briggs put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. She let her head rest against the man's chest, allowing the tears to flow freely as he stroked her hair in an attempt at comforting her. "Does Mike know yet?"

"I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do…" Paige replied. "I can't stay undercover with a baby on the way. But at the same time, I _want_ to keep it…"

"I think you need to tell Mike, no matter what you intend to do…" Paul replied. "He has a right to know, and I'm sure that he would _want_ to know what's going on…" Paige sighed, pulling back from the man's hug. "Mike's a good guy, and I know that he's going to support whatever you decide to do about all of this. But he has to know what's going on."

"I know."

"C'mon inside. You and that baby both need some breakfast, and I think I'm going to need another drink while I process this whole conversation." Paige smiled slightly, letting the man guide her back into the kitchen.

"Paul… don't tell anyone, okay?"

"It's not my secret to tell, Paige. Just make sure that Mike is the next one to know, okay?" Paige nodded. "So, bacon and eggs?"

"I think my stomach can handle that."

"Has it been bad?" Paul asked. Paige shrugged as she started to get out a pan to help him with the cooking. "You sit. I'm cooking."

"No, _you're_ going to burn the house down. I'd rather have food that's edible by the end of this," Paige replied, putting a pan on the stovetop and watching as Paul got out the bacon and started to lay a few slices in the cold pan.

"So, are you going to answer my question?"

Paige sighed, turning on the burner. "It's not awful, but it isn't really very pleasant, either. I've only been sick once so far…" Paige watched the bacon as it started to heat up in the pan, stepping back slightly as she heard it beginning to sizzle softly. "I haven't had a chance to do any research yet, and I have no clue what I'm getting myself into here…"

"Make sure to clear your browser history, unless you want the entire house to know your business before the day is over," Briggs replied. "Just remember that secrets don't stay secret long around here… if you want to be the one to tell Mike what's going on, you'd better do it sooner rather than later."

"Tell Mike what?" Paige looked up as Johnny walked into the kitchen, watching them as he raided the fridge and started drinking orange juice out of DJ's carton. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Paige replied. "I… I made the mistake of telling my mother I was dating someone, and now she wants to meet Mike." Paige could tell from the look on Johnny's face that he didn't fully believe what she was saying.

"Right… what's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you decide to make for yourself," Briggs replied. Paige backed away from the stove silently, as the smell of the bacon cooking started to turn her stomach. She wasn't sure

"Hey Paul… can you watch the bacon for a minute?" Paige turned and headed up to her bedroom without waiting for an answer, closing the door and hurrying into the bathroom. She sat down on the lid of the toilet for a moment, waiting for the nausea to either abate or to actually make her throw up.

"Paige? You okay?" Paige closed her eyes as she heard Briggs knocking on the door to her bedroom.

"I'm fine… I'll be down in a minute," Paige replied, not bothering to move from her seat.

"Do you want something other than the bacon for breakfast? I can get rid of it…"

"I'm sure Johnny can help you with that," Paige replied, smiling slightly as Paul stood in the doorway of the bathroom despite the fact that she hadn't told him to come in. "I think I may wait up here until the bacon smell is gone, though. It doesn't seem to be doing very well on my stomach…"

"That might be a good idea."

"You should go back downstairs… Johnny's going to be suspicious of you coming up here to check on me like this," Paige replied.

"I told him I had to take a piss… and he's capable of watching bacon cook for a few minutes." Paige nodded, sighing and closing her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"It's getting worse," Paige replied, putting a hand on her stomach. "God, this is going to suck so bad…" Paige stood up quickly, turning around and putting up the lid on the toilet before emptying the contents of her stomach into it. She was thankful that Briggs was nearby, as he moved to hold back her hair until she was finished. "Fuck…"

"It's okay…" Paige took a deep breath, sitting back and closing her eyes for a moment. "Do you want me to bring you some toast or something?"

"No… no, that'll really make everyone suspicious. And Charlie would flip out if she knew I'd been sick and then went to see Mike…" Paige began. She turned to look at the older man. "I'll be okay now… you should go ahead and go back down. I'm going to clean up here, and then I'll come grab some toast on my way out."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I need to clean myself up some, and it's going to take a few minutes. I'm fine… getting sick helped." Paige started to pick herself up off the floor, ignoring the way Briggs kept one hand on her arm to make sure she didn't lose her balance. "Just go, Briggs… I don't want anyone suspecting anything…" Paige watched as the man nodded slowly, before turning around and leaving the room.

Paige did her best to wash the taste of vomit from her mouth before she brushed her teeth, but the minty taste just made her gag again. She finally managed to finish the job, and started cleaning herself up a bit to make sure that she looked presentable before grabbing her bag and heading back downstairs and putting slice of bread into the toaster.

"Yo, what about your eggs?" Johnny asked.

"I don't have time to wait… Mike called asking me to bring him something, and I need to get going," Paige replied, standing as far away from the cooking food as possible while she waited for her toast. The smell was travelling pretty quickly, and she really wasn't sure that she would be able to hold out for very long given the strong smell of bacon hanging in the air. "I'm just going to take some toast and get something else when I get to the hospital."

"You feeling okay? You look a little pale," Johnny replied.

"I'm fine, Johnny. Just tired. I'll probably end up taking a nap with Mike at some point this afternoon, anyway," Paige replied.

"Just take care of yourself, okay? You can't keep burning the candle at both ends like you have been without making yourself sick…" Johnny replied.

"Paige is a big girl, Johnny. I'm sure she's more than capable of taking care of herself," Briggs replied. Paige just smiled at the man, before grabbing her slice of toast out of the toaster and starting towards the garage.

"I appreciate the concern, though, Johnny," Paige replied.


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ Yeah, I fail at updates right now. It's been a crazy week, between graduation and job interview and everything else that's gone on. I AM still writing on this one, and I am going to continue posting – it just probably won't be a daily thing any more because I'm kind of crazy busy and it's probably only going to get worse from here on out…

* * *

Paige wasn't all that surprised to find Mike asleep when she arrived at the hospital, but she hadn't really expected to be waiting quite so long for him to wake up. The slice of toast she'd eaten in the car really wasn't sitting well on her stomach due to all of the different _smells_ in the hospital.

"Are you feeling alright, honey?" Paige glanced at the nurse that had come in to check Mike's IV line, noticing the strange look she was giving Paige. "You're looking a little pale. If you're sick, you really shouldn't be visiting…"

"I'm not sick," Paige replied, smiling at the woman. "I've just… it's been a long morning. Nothing worth worrying about." Paige could see that the woman wasn't all that convinced, but she didn't say anything else. "He's been sleeping more…"

"Chemo can be exhausting. He's got a hard road to follow with this, but Dr. Coleman seems happy with his progress and Mike seems to be handling it well," the nurse replied. "As long as we don't have to delay treatment because of some kind of illness, it looks as though he'll get through the whole process on schedule." Paige nodded, watching the man sleep. "You're sure you're alright?"

"It's just morning sickness… nothing worth worrying about," Paige replied, without even really thinking about it."

"Oh…" Paige glanced at the woman, suddenly realizing what she'd just said. "How far along?"

"I'm not sure," Paige admitted. "I just found out this morning… I haven't even told Mike yet…"

"Told me what?" Paige looked over at the sound of Mike's tired voice, surprised that he'd woken up enough to hear part of the conversation. "What do you need to tell me?"

"I'll leave the two of you to talk. Just call us, if you need anything."

Paige waited until the woman was out of the room before she stood up, moving her chair closer to Mike's bed and pulling out her cell phone to pull up the picture she'd taken that morning. "I don't know how to tell you this…"

"So just tell me…" Mike replied. Paige couldn't help looking him over, taking in the almost non-existent hair on top of his head and the dark circles under his eyes. Despite the nurse's assurances, he didn't look as though he was doing well.

"I'm pregnant," Paige replied, turning the phone so that he could see the picture of the test. "I didn't want to bring the actual test with me, but I knew that you would want to see it."

"Paige…" Paige watched as Mike closed his eyes. "If you want to go back to Eric…"

"It isn't Eric's baby," Paige replied. "Eric didn't want kids, and he did everything he could to make sure that wouldn't happen…"

"And we didn't do anything to prevent it…" Mike replied. Paige watched as he looked at the picture again. "So two lines means positive?"

"It does." Paige bit down on her bottom lip as she waited for Mike's response.

"Come here…" Paige smiled as Mike patted the stretch of empty bed between them, moving over and climbing up to lay next to him. "I love you." Paige smiled as Mike put a hand on her stomach. "We're going to have a baby…"

Paige smiled, putting a hand over his. "We are."

"I guess this gives me one more thing to fight for…" Paige smiled, leaning in to press a kiss against the man's lips. "Whatever happens, Paige…"

"Shh…" Paige replied, pressing another kiss against the man's lips. "We aren't going to talk about it right now…"

"If I'm not here…"

"For God's sake, Mike, shut up." Paige pulled away from him slightly. "Look, it's bad enough I have to figure out what I'm going to do about my job. I don't want to think about what I might have to do if you aren't here…"

"Your job…?"

"Mike, I can't be undercover and pregnant. They're going to stick me on a desk somewhere for the next nine months, if not permanently…" Paige began. She looked down at her still-flat stomach with a sigh. "I'm going to have to leave Graceland, if I'm going to keep the baby. And I'm terrified that there may not be a position for me here if I'm not able to stay undercover…" Paige closed her eyes. "If it comes down to it, Mike, I'm going to choose you. I want you to know that."

"I don't understand…" Mike began.

"Mike, my first priority is for you. And if this were to come between us…" Paige began. She closed her eyes, sighing. "I would give up the baby, if it means I can stay with you."

"And if you end up without either of us?" Mike asked.

"It's a chance I have to take." Paige watched as Mike sighed, closing his eyes.

"I don't want you to regret that decision, Paige."

"I won't. I don't want to go through this without being able to share it with you."

Paige wasn't sure how long they sat there; something about being in Mike's arms and being able to touch and kiss him seemed to help her stomach relax a bit. "When are you going to go to the doctor?" Mike finally asked.

"I haven't set anything up yet… I figured that I would sort all of that out later today, while you're napping…" Paige replied. "I know I'll need to go soon. Figure out how far along things are, what the next step is… and I'll have to talk to the DEA about what my options are now that I'm going to have to pull out of the field."

"I wish I could come with you," Mike replied. Paige smiled, squeezing the man's hand gently and moving it back onto her stomach.

"I wish you could come, too. I'm not really looking forward to it." Paige sighed, closing her eyes and letting her head rest next to Mike's on the pillow. "Do you even want to be a father? It's not like we've even talked about our futures together…"

"I'm not sure what I want anymore, Paige. Right now I'm just trying to focus on getting through the next round of this…" Paige pressed a kiss against the man's forehead. "I know that I love you, and that I want you to be happy. And… I don't dislike the idea. But I'm not sure that it's something I necessarily _want_. Not right now, at least, when everything is so up in the air…"

Paige shook her head. "Everything isn't up in the air… not for me…"

"I'm still sick, Paige… and no amount of wishful thinking is going to change that. And you're giving me plenty of reason to keep fighting here, but we have to be realistic about the fact that I may not be around to see much of this baby's life…" Paige closed her eyes, suddenly overcome with the urge to cry at the thought of not having Mike around. "I'm sorry… I didn't want to make you cry…"

Paige leaned in, pressing a soft kiss against his lips and letting the tears fall freely. "I think we're going to have to get used to doing a lot of crying around here… "

"I hope everything is alright?" Paige turned towards the door, surprised that they hadn't heard Dr. Coleman entering the room. "I'm not interrupting?"

"No… no, not at all," Paige replied, getting up out of the bed slowly.

"You don't have to get up," the doctor replied, opening the notebook that contained Mike's chart. "I've been looking over the latest blood test results… the treatments haven't been as effective as we would like, but they are working. It may take longer than we'd originally anticipated…"

"More rounds of chemo?" Mike asked, interrupting the man.

"Most likely. I know it's daunting, but you need to know the truth of what's going on, so that you can make an informed decision about continuing treatment," the doctor replied. Paige reached out and took Mike's hand, squeezing it gently. "I know that this has been difficult for both of you… and this is still a long way to go. You need to be prepared for this fight…"

"I have plenty of reasons to fight… more now than ever." Paige glanced down at Mike, smiling at him and squeezing his hand again. "So… what's next?"

"We keep moving forward with the treatment, as long as you're well enough to continue," Dr. Coleman replied. "We do need to be careful about visitors, especially now that we know the chemo is working and we know that your immune system is getting weaker. You can't afford an illness of any kind…"

"I can make sure that everyone understands," Paige replied.

"Miss Arkin… I hate to mention it, but…" the doctor began. Paige sighed, turning to look at the doctor before he could finish his sentence.

"Morning sickness," she replied, moving a hand to her stomach. "I just took a test this morning… we weren't really expecting this."

"Then I suppose congratulations are in order," Dr. Coleman replied, smiling at her. "You'll need to be careful, and make sure you take care of yourself properly over the next few months. Pregnancy can weaken your immune system as well, so you'll need to be more aware of how you're feeling and what is going on with your own health."

"Of course," Paige replied.

"Right. So, we will plan on starting the next round of treatment on schedule. Until then, you should take advantage of the time to rest and try to relax."


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So I had to do a little bit of editing on this chapter before I posted it; I've been trying to edit as I go and keep up with everything, but every once in a while I'm not happy with what I have when it comes time to actually post it. But I'm feeling pretty good about this one now.

* * *

Paige let her head rest against the toilet seat, closing her eyes and wishing the nausea would go away. It had been an almost constant companion for her since it had first started, a couple of days before she'd taken the pregnancy test, and it only seemed to be getting worse the longer it continued. None of the tricks she'd found on the internet for dealing with morning sickness seemed to be helping at all – small, regular meals just made her get sick more often, and she hadn't been able to keep down any of the vitamins she was trying to take until she could get an appointment with the doctor. It made hiding the fact that she was pregnant from the rest of the house a huge pain in the ass.

"Paige?" Paige sighed, closing her eyes and wishing that Charlie would just _go away_. "Paige, are you in here?"

"Yeah. Just give me a minute…" Paige flushed the toilet, hoisting herself up to a standing position and turning on the sink to wash her hands and rinse out her mouth before opening the bathroom door and forcing a smile for her friend's sake.

"Shit… Paige, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Paige replied, smiling. "What's up?" She moved over to make up her bed, trying her best to ignore the dizziness that seemed to always come immediately after she'd gotten sick.

"Paige, sit down… you look like you're about to pass out…"

"I'm fine, Charlie. Really."

"I heard you getting sick. You can't go see Mike like this…" Charlie began. Paige closed her eyes, surprised when Charlie put an arm around her waist and forced her to sit down. "God, Paige, you're shaking…"

"I'm just a little dehydrated. I'm fine," Paige replied, turning to look at the other woman. "It's not a big deal."

"I would not consider something that makes you puke 'not a big deal.' Shoes off, back under the covers. If you have some kind of stomach virus, you're staying here for the day."

"It isn't a stomach virus…"

"The fact that you were just puking begs to differ…"

"Charlie, it's morning sickness…" Paige replied. She watched as the woman processed what she'd just said. "I found out last week… I can't get in to see the doctor until Monday, though…"

"You're pregnant…?" Paige nodded slowly, watching Charlie's reaction as the other woman processed what Paige had just admitted. "Holy shit…" Paige watched as Charlie stood up, shaking her head. "Does Mike know?"

"Of course." Paige closed her eyes again, trying her best to stop her hands from shaking before she stood up and started towards the bathroom again, getting a glass of water to drink while they talked. She closed her eyes as she stood at the sink, gripping onto the edge of the counter as she began to feel dizzy again.

"Johnny, help me pick her up and get her down to the car…" Paige opened her eyes slowly as she felt someone lifting her up off the floor. She didn't remember sitting down or falling, and she definitely didn't remember Johnny and Briggs being in her room when she'd started talking to Charlie.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm taking her to the emergency room… Charlie said she may have hit her head, and she's clearly sick…" Briggs replied.

"'m fine…" Paige began, trying to struggle against the man's arms. She was too weak to really make any headway in getting away from the senior FBI agent, but it didn't stop her from trying to get away.

"Paige, you passed out and hit your head. You're going to the hospital, and that's final."

Paige couldn't really keep track of everything that was going on around her. The next time she was fully aware of what was going on, she was propped up in a hospital bed with an IV line pumping fluids into her body. "Miss Arkin… how are you feeling?"

"What happened…?" Paige asked.

"You were dehydrated, and you passed out. One of your roommates brought you in because you weren't coming around properly on your own," the doctor replied. "It's a good thing he did, too. Your electrolyte levels were pretty seriously imbalanced…" Paige nodded slowly as the man examined her carefully, shining a light in her eyes and checking her pulse. "We still need to run a few more tests, and I want to keep you at least overnight so that we can monitor your condition and the baby's. But we're going to keep you on IV fluids and the nausea medication." Paige closed her eyes. "You should get some rest. We've contacted your obstetrician's office, and they should have someone coming in to check on you this afternoon."

"Thank you."

Paige closed her eyes again as the doctor left the room, not really sure what else she could do with herself. The fact that she felt exhausted made it easy for her to drift off to sleep, and by the time Paige woke up again she was in a different room, this time with Charlie sitting in a chair in one corner.

"Were you ever going to tell us you were pregnant?"

Paige sighed, moving to sit up a little more in the bed. "I was waiting for the right time," Paige replied. "I didn't want the whole house to know, because I didn't want it to get back to the office before I had a chance to talk to them about what my options are here."

"Paige… you can't seriously be thinking about giving up your undercover job for Eric's baby…" Charlie began.

"It's not Eric's baby." Paige didn't intend for her voice to be quite so harsh, but she couldn't help the frustration over having to defend herself for even considering keeping the baby. "It's Mike's. And I've already told him and we've been talking about what we're going to do…" Paige began.

"But you _are_ thinking about keeping the baby and leaving Graceland?" Charlie asked.

"I'm definitely keeping the baby. And whether or not I leave Graceland isn't really my decision to make… that's up to the DEA." Paige closed her eyes again, sighing. "Shit… I have to call Cooper… I can't put it off now that I've got medical records proving it…"

Paige looked up as she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. Charlie got up and went to answer it. Paige was thankful to see that it was Mike, wearing a surgical mask and accompanied by an extremely concerned Johnny. "As soon as I told him you were here, he demanded that someone bring him down to see you. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wasn't taking no for an answer…"

"Are you okay?" Paige smiled as Mike walked over to her, putting one hand on her stomach and pushing her hair back behind her ear with the other.

"I'm fine," Paige replied. "The doctor said I was just dehydrated, but they want to run a few more tests."

"Tests?" Mike asked.

"There's nothing to worry about," Paige said, putting a hand over his on her stomach. "They just have to cover all their bases, that's all. If they were worried about anything, they would have said something."

"But you blacked out…"

"The morning sickness has been bad… I haven't really been able to eat much, and I've been getting sick every day…" Paige admitted. She reached up, taking the surgical mask off his face so that she could see more than just his eyes and his bald head. He smiled at her. "You should go back to your own room. I don't want you to catch anything or make yourself sick…"

"I should be here with you. Taking care of you…" Mike began.

"You should be resting, because you have another round of chemo starting in a few days. I'll be out of here tomorrow…"

"The doctor said at least overnight… it may be longer than that," Charlie commented, finally reminding the two of them that she and Johnny were also in the room.

"I already feel better," Paige replied, turning to look at her friend. "If I didn't think all of you would tear me a new one for it, I would already be trying to get out of here. But I'm not going to pull a Mike here…"

"Hey…" Mike began, protesting despite the smile on his face.

"Did you really think we would forget that stunt you pulled trying to bring down Bello and find Odin Rossi?" Paige asked, smiling at him. "Besides, I think you would kill me if I tried to do anything other than follow doctor's orders…"

"You shouldn't be spending so much time up here with me, when you aren't alright yourself…" Mike began. "I'll be okay without you for a few days, so that you can stay in bed and rest. I don't want you to make yourself sick on my account…" Paige sighed, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss against the man's lips without even bothering to think about Charlie and Johnny's presence in the room.

"You should go back to your room, before _you_ make yourself sick," Paige replied. "I'll text you, and I'll come see you as soon as I can…" Paige kissed the man again, before putting the surgical mask back on his face. "I'll see you soon."

"I love you."

"Love you, too."


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ Yay for a new chapter! That's pretty much all I've got to say at the moment, other than that I'm watching Season 2 promos and I can not WAIT for the new season to start. With as much as they're already giving away, I can't wait to see what parts of the story they're actually holding back…

* * *

Paige looked at the screen, trying her best not to let the tears stinging at her eyes fall as she looked at the flickering spot on the screen. "So we've got the heartbeat here," the tech commented, pointing towards the spot that she'd been fixed on ever since it had shown up on the screen. Paige closed her eyes as the sound of the heartbeat filled the room for a moment. "I'm just going to take a few measurements, to determine the gestational age. After that, I'll take a few pictures for you and then we'll be done."

"But everything's okay?" Paige asked.

"Everything looks fine. Just try to relax for the next few minutes… I'll try to make it as quick as possible." Paige did her best to follow the tech's instructions, closing her eyes and trying her best not to let the tears fall. She wasn't sure where they were coming from, or even if they were from happiness or fear. But she couldn't seem to stop them from falling, no matter what she did.

It didn't take the tech long to finish up, and soon Paige was holding a string of pictures and walking with Charlie down to the car. "So you're really moving out of Graceland this weekend?"

"I don't have a choice," Paige replied, tucking the pictures into her bag as they waited for the elevator. "You didn't have to come with me, you know… I could have driven myself."

"You're still getting used to being on that nausea medicine. I didn't want to risk you falling asleep while you were driving," Charlie commented. "Where are you going, anyway? You can't leave the area…"

"I have a hotel room, for the moment. Until I can find a decent apartment that will fit all three of us, once Mike can come home…" Paige began. She looked down at the floor, sighing. "If Mike comes home."

"Mike will come home," Charlie replied, putting a hand on Paige's shoulder. "He's got two of you to fight for now. And we both know that Mike is stubborn… he won't give up when he's got so much to live for." Paige nodded, sighing and reaching up to wipe away the tears that were stinging at her eyes.

"God, I've got to stop crying so much… this is getting ridiculous." Paige got into the elevator as it finally arrived, leaning against one wall. "I don't know how I'm going to do this… restart my whole life…"

"It's not like you won't have us," Charlie replied.

"You're going to be busy with work."

"We aren't going to just abandon the two of you just because neither of you are living in Graceland or working undercover, Paige," Charlie commented. "You two are family…" Paige smiled at the other woman, putting a hand on her stomach. "We're all planning on seeing that baby when it gets here – Johnny's fully expecting to be called Uncle J."

Paige couldn't help laughing, shaking her head. "I think we can manage that for him." Paige sighed, pulling out the pictures she'd just been given. "I should take these to show Mike. Before I have a chance to forget where everything is…" Charlie held out a hand, raising an eyebrow at the images once she got a chance to look at them.

"Is this supposed to be a baby?" Charlie asked. Paige couldn't help laughing at the woman's question.

"I know… it looks like I'm growing some kind of alien in there. But the tech said everything looks fine, so I guess that's how they're supposed to look at ten weeks…" Paige began.

"Ten? I thought you said it was Mike's baby…" Charlie began.

"They count it weird, because you usually can't get an exact date of conception. The first two weeks, you aren't actually pregnant. They base it on your last period, which was the week before Mike got back out here… so that makes it ten, almost eleven weeks."

"So… that puts the due date somewhere in…"

"June. They said the sixth, but that it could change," Paige replied. She took the string of pictures back from Charlie, tucking them into her bag again. "I really do want to go see Mike." Paige followed Charlie out of the elevator and back towards the car.

"Are you sure you want to go down there? I thought today was more chemo…"

"It is…" Paige replied.

"Which means that Mike is going to be sick. Are you sure you want to go over there, when you're still dealing with the morning sickness?" Paige closed her eyes, sighing. "I heard you getting sick this morning, even with the medicine. You _are_ taking them, aren't you?"

"Like you said, my body's still getting used to the pills," Paige replied, climbing into the passenger's side of the old red pickup truck. "I'm not fragile, Charlie, even if this baby is making me sick. I can handle it if I throw up once or twice."

"We're not going to forget the fact that you just got out of the hospital on Saturday, after you passed out from dehydration because you were getting sick too many times," Charlie replied. Paige closed her eyes. "Look, I'll take you up there. But I know that Mike is going to agree with me when I say that the first time you start feeling sick, we're going back to the house."

"I just want to go up there long enough to show Mike the pictures… I know I'm supposed to be taking it easy or whatever, but I think I can manage that much without wearing myself out."

"I'll take you over there."

Paige hadn't counted on Mike being sick as they walked into the room, but despite the fact that the sound and smell was overpowering, the nausea medicine Paige had been prescribed helped her enough to at least make it possible for her to keep from being sick as well. "We can go…" Charlie whispered, before they got far enough into the room for Mike to actually see them.

"I'm fine…" Paige smiled, leaning against the wall to wait for Mike to be done getting sick. "The medicine is working. I'd rather not see it, but I can handle hearing him get sick." Paige waited until the man stopped vomiting, before pushing back the short curtain that separated the area by the door from the rest of the room. Mike had his eyes closed, but Paige knew that he wouldn't actually be asleep yet. "Mike?"

"You should be resting…" the man began, pushing away the tray table that held the evidence of what he'd just been doing. Paige smiled, moving closer and pressing a kiss against his forehead.

"I'm not going to argue with you on this one. But I needed to show you something," Paige replied, pulling out the pictures the tech had given her before she'd left the doctor's office.

"You had your doctor's appointment today… right?" Paige watched as the man studied the pictures, clearly confused. She bit her lip as he pulled the images closer to his face, squinting at them. "What am I looking at?"

"Are you having trouble seeing it?" Paige asked.

"My eyes aren't as good as they used to be, but they still work well enough. I just don't know what I'm looking for…"

Paige pointed to the larger half of the little white lump. "This is the baby's head…"

"It's huge…" Mike began. Paige couldn't help laughing. "Is it supposed to be that big?"

"I think so… the tech said everything looked fine." Paige pointed a little lower, to a slightly darker spot on the baby's body. "The heart's about here… when you can actually see it on the ultrasound, it looks like it's flickering…" Paige trailed off as she realized that Mike was starting to fall asleep on her. She sighed, pressing a soft kiss against his temple, tearing one of the images off the end of the strip as one of the nurses came into the room.

"Everything alright?"

"I think he's just been sick," Paige replied with a slight smile. "But I think at the moment he's fallen back to sleep." Paige got up, walking over to the corkboard across the room from the bed. "Is it okay if I hang something up here?"

"Of course… most of the other patients use them to hang family photos," the nurse began. Paige smiled, tacking the picture to the small square of corkboard.

"Then I think we need to fill this one up with family photos for him." Paige turned towards the door as she heard it open, followed by the strong, familiar smell of a greasy hamburger and fries.

"Yo, what's with the picture of the ugly little alien thing?" Johnny asked, putting the bag of food down on a table and pointing at the ultrasound image Paige had just posted.

"That 'ugly little alien thing' is your niece or nephew, asshat…" Charlie replied, swatting at him. Paige just shook her head, stepping away from the bag of food.

"We should go," Paige said, moving closer to Charlie and the door. "I have a lot to do… packing, and all that…"

"You don't even have that much stuff…" Johnny began.

"You'd be amazed at how much stuff girls can hide in a bedroom, Johnny," Charlie replied, putting a hand on Paige's back and shooing her towards the door a little faster. Although the smell in the hallway wasn't much better, it did help Paige to not feel quite so sick as soon as she was away from the smell of the grease coming from Johnny's bag of food. "You okay?"

"The hamburger got me."

"Hamburger?"

"In Johnny's bag. I could _smell_ it, and it smelled like old grease…" Paige had to swallow back the bile rising in her throat at the thought of it. "We should go, before I really do get sick from the smell of it all…"

"Do you think Mike's going to remember talking about the baby in a couple of days when he's feeling better?" Charlie asked as they headed back out to the truck.

"Hopefully. If not, I can always tell him again…" Paige sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "I think I may need to stop by a bathroom on our way out… that smell isn't going away…"

Paige hurried out of the elevator as soon as it stopped on the ground floor of the building, making a beeline for the ladies room she knew was just down the hall from the elevators and rushing into a stall, throwing up everything she'd eaten before her doctor's appointment.

Paige was thankful that by the time she managed to clean herself up a little bit and rinse the taste of sick out of her mouth, Charlie was waiting just outside the bathroom door with a bottle of water from a nearby vending machine. "Thanks."

"I know you'd do the same for me," Charlie replied, smiling. Paige nodded, once again following the woman out towards the truck. "I'll make you some soup or something when we get back to the house."

"Could we _not_ talk about food less than five minutes after I've puked?"


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ So yeah… two weeks until the season premiere! The more I see, the more excited I get.

* * *

Mike hated being stuck in a hospital bed, knowing that Paige couldn't come visit him because his getting sick was making _her_ get sick, too. "Cheer up, man… you haven't been sick in what, eight hours?"

Mike smiled slightly at Johnny's attempt at cheering him up. "It doesn't change the fact that Paige isn't here right now," Mike admitted. "I'm just ready to be done with all of this… I should be taking care of her right now. It's my fault she's in this mess…" Mike began.

"Dude, it takes two to tango, if you know what I mean…"

"I know how babies are made, Johnny," Mike replied, rolling his eyes. "In case you need reminding, _I'm_ the one that's actually managed it here, not you."

"It's not like it's that hard. _You_ slept with Paige once and knocked her up…"

"Twice."

"Pity sex the night before you left doesn't count," Johnny replied.

"It was _not_ pity sex…"

"You were leaving…"

"Pity sex implies that she felt bad for me because I was too hopeless to get anyone else to sleep with me," Mike asserted.

"Well…" Mike shook his head, rolling his eyes at Johnny's implication.

"I was practically living with Abby for like a month the first time I was out here… what did you think we were doing all night?" Mike asked.

"First date, you two just talked all night…"

"Is it a crime to like to get to know people before you sleep with them?" Mike glanced across the room at the little bulletin board, suddenly distracted by the piece of paper that had been attached to it. "What's that?"

"What?"

"That piece of paper… I can't see it very well from here…" Mike began.

"That's the picture of your alien baby… Paige left it when she was here on Monday, after her doctor's appointment." Mike raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember her and Charlie coming in here?"

"I don't remember Monday. I was a little drugged up…" Mike reminded him, smiling slightly. The look on his face changed once he realized what Johnny had said about the baby. "Wait… why do you call it an alien baby? Is something wrong?" Mike started to get up, unplugging the IV pump from the wall and walking towards the picture.

"Paige said everything's fine… I guess they're supposed to look like that. But it looks weird to me…" Johnny replied. Mike looked at the picture, trying to figure out what everything was based on his limited experience with such images.

"What did you think it would look like?" Mike asked.

"I dunno… an actual baby?" Mike smiled, shaking his head slightly. "I think I'm gonna go get something to eat. You want anything?"

"I'm good… food's still kind of repulsive to me…"

"You need to eat something, man… I know it sucks, but you gotta have something in your stomach if you're going to keep going," Johnny commented. "You're already getting weak. The last thing you need to do is let it get worse than it has to be by avoiding it." Mike closed his eyes. "I'll bring you something easy to handle, okay? But you gotta try to eat something…"

"Johnny…"

"You can't survive on air, dude. Besides, it's been eight hours since the last time you got sick… your stomach should be okay to at least _try_ something. Even a little bit is better than nothing, man…"

"I know…" Mike began. "I don't know what I _can_ eat anymore… my taste buds are so fucked up from chemo, things taste completely different than they used to…"

"So then try something new…"

Mike sighed, shaking his head. "That isn't really what I meant… it's not just different. Sometime's it's just… things don't _have_ a taste to me. Not anymore. Even stuff I used to love."

"There isn't like, something you can do to make food taste normal?" Mike smiled, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "Dude, that sucks…"

"Dude, my taste buds are dead."

"Like, permanently?"

Mike shrugged. "I don't know." Mike walked back over towards the bed, sitting down on the side and plugging the IV pump back into the wall. "You should go get yourself something to eat. Just… do me a favor and don't bring it in here, okay? I don't want to risk getting sick from it…"

"Sure, man. Text me if you decide you need something, okay? I'll be back in a bit." Mike nodded, leaning back in the bed and closing his eyes.

Mike was surprised to wake up with his nose buried in soft, nice smelling dark blonde hair. He smiled, pressing a soft kiss against the top of Paige's head and squeezing her shoulders gently.

"'s too early…"

"I don't know what time it is, but I really don't think it's morning yet…" Mike replied, moving around a little in the bed so that he could see the woman's face as she started to wake up. "I wasn't expecting you to come today…"

"Johnny called and said that you weren't really eating… but you looked so peaceful when I got here that I decided I'd rather take a nap with you first, and then worry about that when you woke up…" Mike smiled slightly, leaning in to press a kiss against the woman's forehead. "You need food, Mike…"

"I know." Mike sighed, closing his eyes. "Nothing tastes right anymore, and most of what I eat ends up coming back up…"

"At least try… for me…" Mike smiled, moving his hand so that it rested lightly over the lower part of the woman's abdomen. "And for the baby, too…"

"Johnny said it looked like an alien in the picture," Mike commented, changing the subject.

"_Johnny_ looks like an alien." Mike couldn't help laughing at the joke. "They don't look like babies at first… they have to grow into it."

"I know."

"What do you think?" Paige asked.

Mike closed his eyes, sighing. "I don't remember what it looked like in the picture," he admitted. "I was so out of it when we talked, I didn't even remember that you had been here until Johnny started talking about it earlier. And I didn't really look at it for very long when I saw it on the wall earlier." Mike opened his eyes as he felt Paige moving, getting out of the bed and starting to walk across the room. "What are you doing?"

"Getting the picture for you. The only reason I left it was so that you would be able to see it whenever you wanted," Paige replied. Mike smiled as she walked back to the bed, handing him the small piece of paper with a black and white image on it. He took it in for a moment, putting up his hand to stop Paige from explaining before he had a chance to really take it all in. "You didn't know what was what the other day…"

"I still don't really know what I'm looking at, but it's kind of familiar looking now…" Mike replied. "Is the head bigger, or the body?"

"The head," Paige replied.

"What's the dark spot?"

"The heart. It looks like it's flickering on the screen…"

"And it's all okay? They didn't see anything wrong with the baby?" Mike asked, turning to look at Paige.

"No… everything is fine." Mike nodded, sighing and leaning in to kiss the woman again. "You're worried…"

"It's not like things were completely normal from the beginning," Mike replied, closing his eyes. "I'd already been through six rounds of chemo and months of radiation… if all of that fucked up the genes in my half of the baby's DNA…"

"We'll figure it out, Mike. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it."

"The stress of all this can't be good for you or the baby…" Mike added. He watched as Paige sighed, shaking her head.

"Mike, I'm a DEA agent. My life is always going to be stressful," Paige replied. Mike closed his eyes, nodding slightly. "You don't need to worry about me, okay? I'm a big girl, and I can handle this. You just worry about getting through the chemo and the transplant so that you can be with us." Mike let his hand slide across the woman's stomach again, letting it rest just below her navel even though there was only a slight bump just barely starting to form.

"What if I don't…"

"Don't even say it, Mike…" Paige began. "We aren't going to even consider the possibility that you might not be around until that's a legitimate possibility…"

"It _is_ a possibility, Paige… I know we have to have hope, but I don't want to pretend like everything is fine and this is just some little bump in the road that we're going to get past without a problem. I'm really, really sick, Paige, and no matter how much hope we may have, there aren't any guarantees…" Mike leaned over slightly, letting his head rest against Paige's hair. "I don't want to leave you, and the idea of it terrifies me. But I can't guarantee that it won't happen, and I don't want you to be surprised if it _does_ happen…" Mike didn't want to see Paige starting to cry, even though he was fairly certain that she was.

"I don't need reality right now, Mike…"

"But I can't bring myself to lie to you."


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ I'm sorry… I promise I've been writing (I'm somewhere in the 90s in terms of page numbers), I just haven't really been posting because I keep forgetting to make these cuts and fix things up properly. I'm not abandoning you all, I promise!

* * *

Paige looked around the small, empty living room and sighed. While she had gotten used to the idea of moving out of Graceland, being faced with the reality of it was harder than she'd really expected. "So it's unfurnished?"

"We don't have any furnished units here. But it does include cable and Internet in the advertised rental price," the manager replied. Paige could tell that the woman was bored as she picked at her nails instead of looking at Paige or anything in the empty apartment. "We also have one-bedroom options available…"

"We need at least two," Paige replied, wandering through the apartment and into the small, cramped kitchen. It wasn't exactly the ideal place to live, but it was the best thing Paige had found in her price range. And given the fact that Mike wasn't going to be able to help with paying rent any time soon, the money was her biggest concern.

"This is LA, sweetie… not the Midwest. No one is going to care if you and your boyfriend are sharing a bedroom." Paige rolled her eyes, turning back to the woman and crossing her arms.

"One: I'm not from the Midwest. I was born and raised in Los Altos. Two: the second bedroom is for the baby I'm expecting, not to try and convince anyone that my boyfriend and I aren't actually sleeping together when we obviously are." Paige didn't even feel guilty about the lie, as she walked out of the apartment without bothering to look at anything else.

"What about the apartment?"

"I'll let you know," Paige replied. She went straight back to the car, sighing as she climbed into the driver's seat and pulled out her phone.

"_Hello?_"

"Why do people have to be so shitty?" Paige asked.

"_What happened, Paige?_" Paige closed her eyes at Charlie's question, trying to figure out the best way to answer it.

"Leasing manager with a bad attitude and way too many misconceptions about why a girl like me would need a two bedroom apartment."

"_Weren't you going to the complex you were really interested in today?_"

"This was the nicest place in my price range, but I don't know if I can deal with the judgmental assholes in the office," Paige replied. "Maybe I'm just being too sensitive here…"

"_I can't say one way or another… I don't know the situation. But you do need to find something other than the hotel room to live in, and fast. You need to start getting settled in somewhere and getting ready for that baby…_"

"I know."

"_Do you have any other places on your list to look at?_"

"One more… if it isn't okay, I'll come back here and sign a lease this afternoon," Paige replied, sighing and cranking the car. "God, this sucks…"

"_Tell me about it…_"

"I'm just glad I didn't have to do all of this when I first started working for the DEA…"

"_Go check out the other apartment, okay? Let me know if you need anything else._"

"Thanks, Charlie."

Paige knew before she even got to the next apartment complex that it wasn't going to be a good option; the neighborhood wasn't a good one, and as soon as she pulled into the complex's parking lot something told her that she didn't want to be there.

"Fuck…" Paige sighed, pulling into a parking spot outside of the office as her cell phone started ringing again. "Hello?"

"_Paige?_" The sound of Mike's voice on the other end of the phone made Paige sit up a little and mentally start calculating how long it would take to get back to the hospital from her current location.

"Mike? What's wrong?"

"_I don't remember why I called you…_"

"Okay… what's going on?"

"_I don't know… I just woke up…_"

"Is anyone there with you?" Paige asked. She knew that Johnny had said something about stopping by to see Mike at some point, but she really wasn't sure when he had actually planned on doing that.

"_No…_" Paige glanced at the clock in her car, trying to figure out what she should do when Mike was on the phone, clearly a little disoriented. "_I think they gave me too much of the nausea medicine… it kinda feels like I'm floating…_" Paige raised an eyebrow, more than a little confused about what the man was telling her.

"Are you okay, Mike?"

"_Are you going to come by later? I want to see you…_" Paige smiled, shaking her head and breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that he just seemed a little drugged up and not seriously ill.

"I'll come see you in a couple of hours. I have to go figure out a lease first, and then I'll stop by on the way back to the hotel room…"

"_Lease? For an apartment?_"

"Yeah… for our apartment," Paige replied. "Why don't you go back to sleep for a little while, and I'll probably be there when you wake up…"

"_I'd rather fall asleep with you here with me…_"

Paige smiled, shaking her head again. "I'll fall asleep with you tonight, okay? I just need a little time to get some things taken care of, and then I'll come to you."

"_Promise?_"

"I promise."

"_Can you stay on the phone until I fall asleep?_"

"I can't drive and talk at the same time," Paige replied, looking around as she realized that the manager of the apartment complex had come out of the office door and was staring at her as she spoke on the phone. "I've got to go now, okay? I'll be back over there in a couple of hours."

"_I love you…_"

"I love you, too," Paige replied, smiling and shaking her head.

Getting back to the previous apartment complex didn't take long, and Paige was thankful that the paperwork process was relatively easy compared to the multi-page reports she was used to creating for her job. She was just thankful that getting approved for the apartment and scheduling her move-in date was relatively easy. Which really just meant she had to figure out how she was going to get enough furniture together to actually make the place livable within about a week.

The hospital was quiet and relatively calm when Paige arrived, and she was able to slip into Mike's room without waking him up. She dropped her bag in the chair, before kicking off her shoes and climbing onto the bed next to him. Paige relaxed a bit once she realized that everything seemed okay, letting go of the tension she hadn't realized she'd been carrying in her shoulders. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Paige worried about Mike when she couldn't be at the hospital with him, and being pregnant just seemed to magnify all of her emotions to extremes. And even though Mike was obviously abnormally thin and pale, at least being able to _see_ what was going on with him made it easier for Paige to relax.

Paige woke up to a hand gently rubbing her belly, turning to look at Mike and smiling when she realized that he'd woken up. "Hey you…"

"Hey you." Paige smiled as Mike pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "How are things?"

"We have an apartment starting Saturday," Paige replied, letting her hand rest on top of Mike's as he continued to stroke her belly. "I'm guessing you've noticed the bump…"

"It makes it all seem more real…" Mike began. "Are you feeling okay? Everything's been okay since the last time I saw you…?"

"I'm fine… still dealing with the morning sickness, but it's under control." Paige shifted a bit so that she could lie on her side next to the man and actually look at him as they talked.

"Is the medicine working?"

Paige shrugged slightly. "It helps some… I don't actually get sick very often, but I still feel nauseated most of the time," she admitted. "I talked with the doctor about it and he said that as long as I'm not getting sick all the time and I'm not dehydrated or still losing weight, he doesn't see a need to take any more extreme measures. But he also said that it should start to go away soon, since I'm near the end of the first trimester…"

"It'll go away?" Mike asked.

"It usually does… he said he'll keep me on the nausea medicine as long as I need it, but that it shouldn't last more than a few more weeks…" Paige closed her eyes as Mike leaned in and pressed another kiss against her forehead.

"I just want you to be okay… I worry about you and the baby…"

"I know." Paige smiled at the man, twining her fingers with Mike's. "But you shouldn't worry about me… I've got this all under control, okay? The baby and I are both fine, and if there was anything to be concerned about, I would tell you."

"No secrets?"

"None. I promise." Paige glanced down at her belly, which Mike had started rubbing again, smiling slightly. "You're kind of obsessed with my bump, aren't you?"

"It's weird to know that there's a baby in there…"

"Well, technically it's a fetus," Paige replied.

"It's _going_ to be a baby in a few months." Paige turned and pressed a kiss against Mike's temple. "God… we're going to have a baby in a few months… like, an actual living, breathing human being that we're going to be responsible for…"

"You sound terrified of that prospect…" Paige began.

"I can't even take care of myself on my own right now… how the hell am I supposed to help you take care of a baby when I'm too sick to take care of myself…?"

Paige took Mike's hand again, squeezing it gently. "You aren't going to be sick forever, Mike…"

"I might be dead before the baby comes…"

"Mike… you shouldn't say things like that…" Paige sighed, squeezing his hand again. "I'm going to be okay, no matter what happens. The baby will be okay. We're going to get through this together, and we'll figure things out as we go along." Paige smiled as Mike reached up to play with her hair using his free hand.

"I love you. You know that, right?"

"I know." Paige pressed another kiss against the man's cheek.

"And I'm sorry for getting you into this mess…"

Paige shook her head, squeezing the man's hand again. "This isn't a mess, Mike. And if I didn't want to be here, in this situation, I could have ended it all without ever even letting you know what was going on."

Paige watched as Mike processed what she was saying. "You would have had an abortion without telling me?" Mike asked.

Paige sighed, closing her eyes for a moment because she really wasn't sure what he was thinking. "If that was what I'd needed to do, yes. I'm not going to lie to you, Mike… if things were different, I might have done that. Hell, if I'd gotten pregnant the first time we had sex, I would have done it in a heartbeat. But the situation has changed, and I'm not in a place where I would do that any more."

Paige couldn't tell what Mike was thinking, even as he nodded in response to her words. "Please don't hate me for admitting that, Mike. I haven't had an abortion, and I'm not going to have one now."

"I don't hate you," Mike replied quietly. "I just… I don't know how to respond to that. I'm not a fan of the whole idea…" Paige nodded. "I don't want you to regret making the decision to keep this baby… the issue I have is that you could have kept that from me if you'd chosen to take that route…"

"I wouldn't have wanted to hurt you, if it had come to that…" Paige began.

"I would have wanted to know," Mike replied. Paige closed her eyes, fighting back tears. She was surprised to feel the man press a kiss against her temple. "Please don't cry… I'm not upset, okay? We just need to talk about things a little more…" Paige couldn't stop the tears once they started flowing, and she tried her best to turn her head away so that he wouldn't see that she was still crying. She bit her lip as Mike put his hand back on her belly, rubbing it gently. "I shouldn't have gone there… I'm sorry."

"No… I'm sorry…" Paige whispered, trying to fight back the tears as Mike pulled her closer to his body and encouraged her to bury her face in his chest. "I shouldn't…"

"Shh…" Mike interrupted. Paige reached up to wipe away the tears from her face. "It doesn't matter… you haven't done anything wrong, Paige. And even if you had gotten an abortion, you would have had every right to do that…" Paige took a couple of deep, shaky breaths before she looked back up at the man again. "I just… I would want to know, if you ever felt the need to do something like that. Hell, I would even drive you down there and hold your hand if they would let me."

"You wouldn't be upset with me for making that choice if you knew what was going on? Even if things were different and our relationship was in a different place?" Paige asked. She watched as Mike shook his head.

"You're more important. I want kids, but not at the expense of our relationship. Not if it would make you unhappy, or if you didn't think you could handle it." Paige nodded slowly. "We're going to make this work… whatever happens, we're going to be okay."


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm Home**

_Summary:_ Mike is finally coming home to Graceland, but things can't ever be the same.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing; _Graceland_ belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

_A/n:_ Ugh, I suck at updating. I have a whole other idea that's been eating away at me (and I'm sure I'll have more after seeing the new episode on Wednesday), so I just kind of keep forgetting to post the next section of this.

Also, I apologize for not going in and editing this section again; I did see the review about the way I phrase certain things, and I will definitely take that into consideration in the future. However, I'd already heavily edited the next few sections prior to receiving that suggestion, and given my workload at the moment (8 AM to 4:30 PM Monday-Friday, plus random shifts on the weekends at my second job), I just can't bring myself to put in the effort to edit them again. I'm just too tired. Once my big, basically-full-time job ends for the year (three weeks from now), I'll probably have more time to go back and work on that.

* * *

Paige growled under her breath as Briggs took another box out of her hands. "You aren't supposed to be doing any heavy lifting…"

"It's not that heavy," Paige replied, crossing her arms.

"But it's heavier than you're supposed to be lifting, and Mike would kill me if I let you keep it up. Go sit down for a while, take it easy." Paige sighed, following the man across the parking lot and into her new apartment as Johnny and DJ started back towards the truck to get the bed she'd purchased. She really wasn't a fan of having to just sit back and watch as her friends unloaded everything she'd had at Graceland as well as the furniture she'd managed to get second-hand and set it all up for her.

Paige grumbled under her breath, but made her way into the apartment and went into the kitchen to start unpacking where Paul wouldn't see her and fuss about her doing too much and wearing herself out. She was surprised to see Charlie already in there, working on unloading a box of random kitchen stuff.

"Paul got onto you for trying to carry something, didn't he?" Charlie asked.

"How did you guess?" Paige asked, reaching into the box and pulling out a couple of newspaper-wrapped dishes.

"He told everyone last night not to let you do too much…" Charlie began. Paige sighed, shaking her head as she unwrapped the dishes and started to put them in the dishwasher. "You know he's just worried about you. After you got so sick, we all are."

"I get that… but I'm a grown woman," Paige replied, shaking her head. "I'm capable of taking care of myself."

"No one thinks you're incapable of taking care of yourself, Paige. But you have to admit that you haven't exactly had an easy time the past few weeks, and we don't want anything to happen to you or that baby. So you just sit your ass down and let all of us do the heavy lifting and hard work this weekend." Paige sighed, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms. "Don't get huffy with me… I'm just trying to make sure you're okay here. You can be stubborn as hell sometimes."

"I don't need you guys to babysit me."

"But you do need someone to help you out." Paige nodded, sighing. "Look, we don't want anything to happen to you or to that baby. So we're going to do what we can to help you avoid doing anything that might be dangerous…"

"You guys are seriously that worried about me?" Paige asked.

"You're family. You, Mike, and that baby… we may not always be able to be around, but you aren't going to get rid of us that easily." Paige smiled as Charlie filled a glass with water, before handing it to her. "Besides, I'm expecting full auntie privileges when that little one gets here."

"I sort of expected as much. Besides, given the current situation with Mike's family and my lack of siblings, I was sort of hoping you would all fill in that gap…" Paige took a few sips from the glass, letting her free hand rest against her belly.

"What is the deal with Mike's family, anyway? I thought his dad was still alive, but he hasn't mentioned anything…"

"I don't know the whole story… just that Mike's family doesn't seem to be concerned with helping him through all of this. He's never really talked about his family, other than his grandfather."

"The crime scene photographer?"

"Yeah. He died, around the time Mike finished college, I think."

"Do we even know if he has any siblings, or how to get in touch with his family if anything happens to him?" Charlie asked. Paige shook her head, sighing. "So what are we going to do if it comes down to it?"

"I have all of the necessary paperwork. Which, I guess means I'll have to take care of everything…" Paige began.

"You know that we're all here for you, if you need anything."

"I know." Paige sighed, putting the glass down on the counter. "I'm still holding out the hope that I won't have to actually deal with any of it, but I know that's being kind of unrealistic given the circumstances. The mass in his chest is still there, which means they'll still have to deal with that once the bone marrow transplant has taken place…"

"Have they even given you any idea of the chances? What the possibilities are?"

Paige sighed, closing her eyes. "They aren't even really talking about it… they're so concerned with the leukemia and trying to get rid of what's left of his bone marrow so that they can do the transplant and trying to make sure that there's a donor match ready and waiting when he's ready…" Paige pulled herself up to sit on the countertop, looking down at the floor. "They said one in four when all of this started, but knowing that the treatments haven't been as effective as they expected and that he's already been having problems with his lungs… I don't know what we're actually looking at. I have no fucking clue what to expect over the next few months, and that terrifies me." Paige couldn't help the tears that were starting to slide down her face as she tried to remain detached from what she was talking about.

"Shit… I'm so sorry…" Paige closed her eyes as Charlie walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry… everything's going to be okay…" Paige nodded as Charlie pulled her into a hug, holding her tight and letting her sob into Charlie's shoulder.

"I'm sorry… I can't… I can't stop…" Paige sobbed, trying to calm herself down.

"It's okay… it's all going to be okay…" Paige just let Charlie hold her for a few minutes, rubbing her back and letting her cry until the tears finally started to slow to a stop. "I'm sorry, Paige… I didn't mean to make you cry…"

Paige sat up a little, shaking her head and wiping away the tears with a sigh. "It's not exactly a difficult thing to do right now… every little thing seems to make me cry nowadays. I think the last time I cried, before all of this went down, was when Mike was in the hospital after the whole Jangles thing…"

"I know. Hormones are a bitch, huh?" Paige smiled, nodding slightly. "You're going to be okay. No matter what happens, you and this baby are going to be okay. We're all going to help you out with whatever you need. Okay?"

Paige nodded again, sighing. "Okay." Paige looked up as Johnny walked into the kitchen with another box.

"Is everything okay?"

"It's fine, Johnny," Paige replied, trying to wipe away the last of the tears with her sleeve.

"Really? Because it looks like you've been crying…"

"I _have_ been crying," Paige replied, smiling slightly. "But everything is okay. I promise." Paige watched as Johnny set the box down on the floor, before turning towards her again.

"Do you need a hug?" Paige laughed slightly, shaking her head.

"Get your ass over here." Paige slipped down off the countertop, wrapping her arms around Johnny in a quick hug.

"Whatever's going on, you know we're all here for you, right? Whatever you need…"

"I know," Paige replied, sighing and pulling away from the man.

"We've got the bedroom pretty much done, and the trucks are almost empty… we were thinking we'd take a break and go get some lunch here soon."

"Sounds like a plan…" Charlie began. Paige raised an eyebrow as the other woman's phone rang, watching as Charlie glanced at the text message and sighed. "Except that would be one of my CIs, and I have to go deal with this."

"Use the second bedroom… it backs up to an empty apartment," Paige replied. She watched as the woman nodded, heading out of the room and leaving Paige and Johnny alone for a minute.

"You're really okay though, right?"

"Yeah, Johnny… I just get upset really easily right now, that's all."

"What were you guys talking about, anyway?"

Paige sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Just some stuff about Mike… Charlie's worried, for obvious reasons."

"It's all gonna work out, though… everything's going to be alright in the end…" Johnny began. Paige looked up at the man.

"You really think that?" Paige asked.

"I _know_ that. You aren't going to be alone, no matter what happens… we've all got your back, and Mike's going to do everything he can to stay with you…"

Paige nodded. "I know." She smiled as Johnny pulled her into another hug, rubbing her back gently.

"You're gonna be okay, no matter what happens. You've got all four of us to help you with that baby… it's gonna have aunts and uncles to help you love it, even if we aren't blood related to either of you. And the first thing we're gonna do is finish setting up this apartment and make sure that you don't have anything major to worry about."

Paige smiled. "You can't actually take away everything I have to worry about," she replied.

"But we can give you one less thing to worry about. And you know that you can come visit us at the house and still hang out…"

"You know that isn't safe, Johnny… I can't do anything that would risk burning the house, and that includes hanging around too much now that I'm no longer undercover…" Paige replied.

"But that doesn't mean you have to stay away forever, you know. Mikey came back to visit us, and so can you." Paige sighed, nodding slowly. "Now, go in the bathroom and clean yourself up a little, okay? Then DJ and Briggs and I are going to take you out to get something to eat, before we come back over here and finish making this place livable for you."

Paige smiled. "Thank you, Johnny."

"You're welcome, baby. Now go."


End file.
